Hosts Sweden booked their place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Under-21 Championship, beating Serbia 3-1.

Marcus Berg scored twice in the first half - the second from the penalty spot - and Ola Toivonen added a third after Gojko Kacar had pulled a goal back for the Serbs, who had Nenad Tomovic and Nikola Petkovic sent off.

The result means Sweden finish second in Group A, behind Italy, setting up a last-four clash with England.

With the home crowd behind them at the Malmo New Stadium, Sweden made a great start when Berg swept home Emir Bajrami's low cross from the left in the seventh minute - although goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic should really have done better to save the shot.

In the 13th minute Toivonen played in Bajrami, who was clipped by Nenad Tomovic on the edge of the area, prompting referee Pedro Proenca to award a penalty. Berg duly tucked home the spot-kick, sending Brkic the wrong way with a low shot to his left.

Kacar missed a golden opportunity to halve the deficit but, unchallenged in the Sweden box, he could only head Miralem Sulejmani's cross straight at goalkeeper Johan Dahlin, who tipped the ball over the crossbar.

However, Kacar made amends by scoring from the resulting corner, diverting Sulejmani's inswinging cross home from close range.

The lead lasted less than a minute, though, as Toivonen capitalised on some hesitant defending after a Sweden counterattack to dink the ball past the onrushing Zeljko Brkic with 28 minutes gone.

Serbia's chances were dealt a blow when Tomovic was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Bajrami on the stroke of half-time.

Sweden could have scored a fourth shortly after the break when Berg ferocious shot from the right was tipped round the far post by Brkic.

Rasmus Elm was next to try his luck from range, firing just over the bar with a left-footed shot from 30 yards, before Serbia's hopes of a comeback diminished with the dismissal of Petkovic for catching Toivonen in the face with his elbow. It was Serbia's eighth card of either colour for the night.

Andreas Landgren had the last of the goalscoring chances in injury time when he volleyed over.