Sweden began their campaign with a five-goal win over the Netherlands in their opener, and after Croatia stayed perfect earlier this evening with a 35-29 victory over the Dutch, the task for Sweden was simple - avoid an upset against Georgia to progress to the Main Round in the quickest possible time.
Georgia, who needed a win to stay alive, were determined to make life difficult for the Swedes, and they matched their hosts in front of goal early on, but had no answer to Felix Claar, who scored four of Sweden's first five goals to give them a 5-4 lead eight minutes in.
Sweden, however, were struggling to deal with Georgia's back-court shooting, and Giorgi Tskhovrebadze was scoring for fun, taking his personal tally to four as he helped turn a 6-5 deficit into an 8-6 lead for the underdogs in the 13th minute.
Georgian goalkeeper David Nikabadze pulled off key saves from Albin Lagergren to preserve the advantage, before his opposite number Mikael Appelgren finally made his first stop midway through the half, allowing Blagult to restore parity through another Claar strike.
Claar was then the man to score the goal that put Sweden back ahead at 10-9, before Max Darj finished off a fast break to make the score 13-11 - Sweden's first two-goal lead of the game - before a pair of Appelgren saves and a Lukas Sandell goal extended the margin to three.
The sides were trading goals as the first-half minutes were winding down, before Georgia were dealt bitter blows in the final seconds - Nikola Roganovic made it a four-goal game for the first time, then Sebastian Karlsson stole the ball and raced away, to beat the buzzer to make it 20-15 at the break.
Michael Apelgren's side looked to be cruising early in the second half when Lagergren, Eric Johansson and Felix Montebovi took them on a 3-0 run to extend the lead to eight, only for Georgia to hit right back with a 4-0 run of their own, as Tskhovrebadze added two more to his tally.
Montebovi and Lagergren eased the mounting pressure to grow the lead once more, before Georgia lost Erekle Arsenashvili to what looked to be a nasty knee injury, and then they struggled to find a way past veteran goalkeeper Andreas Palicka, who came in for the final 20 minutes.
When Sandell found a route to goal with 13 minutes to play, he put Sweden nine goals clear at 31-22. That was the home side's signal to ring the changes and keep key players fresh for upcoming challenges in the Main Round, as Georgia kept plugging away, reducing the deficit to six.
But Roganovic ensured Blagult kept pushing for the full 60 minutes, and it was his penalty with a minute to play that put Sweden 10 goals clear for the first time.
Nikoloz Kalandadze had the final word with a lob over Palicka in the dying seconds to make the final score 38-29 to Sweden, who join Croatia in progressing to the Main Round with two wins apiece.
Claar and Roganovic top-scored for Sweden with six goals each, but the top scorer in the match was Tskhovrebadze, who netted 11 times for Georgia from 16 shots.
Sweden will face Croatia on Wednesday in a match that is about much more than first place in Group E, as the winners will take an extra two points into the Main Round and give their chances of reaching the Semi-finals a huge boost.
Review all today's results from EHF EURO 2026 on Flashscore.