England captain Steven Gerrard described the performance of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as “world class” during their 4-2 defeat to Sweden.

The skipper won his 100th cap for the Three Lions, but his rival stole the show with a stunning 25-yard bicycle-kick to complete a four-goal haul.

Gerrard described the strike as one of the “best” he’s ever seen and hailed the Paris Saint-Germain forward as “world class”:

“His performance tonight was certainly world-class so credit to him.” He told ITV1.

“He’s scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen live so it was his night.

“If someone scores four goals, I think it (has to be) up there with the best performances.”

Despite the loss Gerrard saw signs of encouragement in England’s performance:

“There were a lot of positives from our point of view tonight. There were a lot of young boys out there making their first appearances. We can take a lot away from this game.

“When you make more than three substitutions they always spoil the game, but the manager’s under huge pressure from the club managers and he’s respecting them.

“I thought we were very comfortable in the game up until we started making loads of changes.”

Roy Hodgson was also happy with his side’s display:

“I must say that I thought for a very long period of the game, 60 or 70 minutes, we were actually playing very well and deserved to be leading and were looking dangerous.”