Arjen Robben blasted Holland into the semi-finals of Euro 2004 as his country's penalty shoot-out misery finally came to an end.
The Chelsea-bound midfielder slotted home his side's sixth spot-kick after Sweden skipper Olof Mellberg had seen his effort saved by Edwin van der Sar to clinch victory after a goalless 120 minutes of football.
Dick Advocaat's side have been bedevilled by shoot-out misery since 1992, going out of the last three European Championships and the 1998 World Cup.
However, this time they survived Phillip Cocu's miss when he hit the post with their fourth kick after Ajax striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic had fired over to pile the pressure on Mellberg.
It was just about what the Dutch deserved after creating the better chances, although they might have paid for their wastefulness when Henrik Larsson and Fredrik Ljungberg both hit the woodwork in extra-time.
They had dominated in normal time with Robben and Edgar Davids, protected by enforcer Cocu, providing the creativity to allow Ruud van Nistelrooy to test out Mellberg and Andreas Jakobsson.
Robben, who switched wings with Andy van der Meyde at regular intervals, provided much of the invention in the first half, helping to unlock the Swedish defence with a flowing eighth-minute move which only foundered when Clarence Seedorf's control let him down inside the penalty area and then testing Andreas Isaksson with a well-struck effort from distance two minutes later.
Isaksson found himself in action once again on 15 minutes when Seedorf warmed his hands with a weighty free-kick, and it took a vital block from Mellberg to deny van Nistelrooy three minutes later after he turned neatly and shot when Michael Reiziger's long throw was allowed to land at his feet.
Reiziger himself blasted just wide from all of 25 yards after van Nistelrooy had laid off a Robben pass to him, and the winger produced a wonderful piece of skill to get in a promising cross on 28 minutes despite the close attentions of Alexander Ostlund and Mattias Jonson in the corner.
Holland were disrupted on the half-hour when skipper Frank De Boer, who had earlier been harshly booked for a rugged challenge on Ljungberg, limped off as a result of the impact to be replaced by PSV Eindhoven defender Wilfred Bouma.
The change did little to unsettle them, however, and Cocu took aim from distance 12 minutes before the break to force an inelegant save from Isaksson, who had to maintain his concentration to claim another Seedorf free-kick with
half-time approaching.
For their part, Sweden had little to shout about in the first half after taking 25 minutes to muster a serious attempt on goal, and even that, a Larsson free-kick, flew well wide.
But they did manage to up the stakes at the death, Anders Svensson seeing a goal-bound shot blocked by Bouma and then thumping a first-time drive straight at van der Sar.
Van Nistelrooy uncharacteristically passed up a glorious opportunity to open the scoring within less than 30 seconds of the restart when he headed a Robben cross on to his shoulder and over the crossbar, and he was a little unlucky to clear the target once again a minute later with an audacious back-heeled effort.
Sweden gradually forced their way into the picture and might have gone ahead themselves on 56 minutes when, after Larsson had headed Jonson's cross back across goal, Jaap Stam failed to connect with his attempted clearance and Cocu
had to hack Ibrahimovic's shot off the line.
But the threat posed by van Nistelrooy was mounting by the second and he went close again on 62 minutes when he collected a ball over the top on his chest and although his initial shot was blocked by Isaksson, the rebound cannoned back off him and ran just wide of the post.
Ljungberg, who had previously struggled to get involved, did so to fine effect 15 minutes from time when he turned smartly to fire just wide of van der Sar's right post and the Swedes gained fresh impetus as Holland, for whom Robben had drifted into anonymity, started to run out of ideas.
Van Nistelrooy headed agonisingly over from a Giovanni van Bronckhorst cross in injury-time, but there was no avoiding extra-time.
Isaksson got away with a dreadful error three minutes after the restart when he fumbled a long-range Robben shot and was rescued by the post, but he redeemed himself in the 100th-minute with a good block from Seedorf, van Nistelrooy
firing wide when the rebound was recycled.
Swedish substitute Kim Kallstrom blasted into the side-netting but Isaksson had to pull off a spectacular save to keep out a Seedorf free-kick two minutes into the second period of extra-time.
Van Nistelrooy had a strike ruled out for offside three minutes later, but the crossbar and then a post came to Holland's rescue in quick succession to repel shots from first Larsson and then Ljungberg and ensure that penalties were required.
Teams
Sweden Isaksson, Ostlund, Mellberg, Jakobsson, Nilsson,
Jonson (Wilhelmsson 64), Linderoth, Ljungberg,
Svensson (Kallstrom 81), Ibrahimovic, Larsson.
Subs Not Used: Hedman, Kihlstedt, Lucic, Mjallby, Hansson,
Andersson, Farnerud, Allback, Wahlstedt.
Booked: Ibrahimovic, Ostlund.
Holland Van der Sar, Reiziger, Stam, de Boer (Bouma 35),
Van Bronckhorst, Davids (Heitinga 61), Seedorf, Cocu,
Van der Meyde (Makaay 87), van Nistelrooy, Robben.
Subs Not Used: Westerveld, Waterreus, Kluivert, Van der Vaart,
Sneijder, Overmars, Van Hooijdonk, Bosvelt, Zenden.
Booked: de Boer, Van der Meyde, Makaay.
Holland win 5-4 on penalties
Att: 30,000
Ref: Lubos Michel (Slovakia).
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