Sweden's hard-fought win over Chile at the Women’s World Cup was temporarily suspended on Tuesday after thunder and lightning hit the city of Rennes.
The opening Group F match at Roazhon Park came to a halt after 71 minutes amid adverse weather and dangerous conditions overhead.
Sweden, one of the tournament’s dark horses, were being held to a goalless draw by an organised and well-disciplined Chile when referee Lucila Venegas Montes forced both sets of players off.
Though the game began in bright sunshine, the weather in the east of Brittany worsened, with heavy rain falling after around 15 minutes of play.
The match resumed at 7.12pm BST, after a 43-minute delay to proceedings and Sweden eventually broke through to claim all three points.
Kosovare Asllani broke the deadlock seven minutes from time, firing high past Chile goalkeeper Christiane Endler, who had denied Sweden on several occasions.
Substitute Madelen Janogy added a brilliant second in the fifth minute of stoppage time to ensure Peter Gerhardsson's side of victory.
Sweden will now travel to Nice to play Thailand on Sunday, while Chile face holders the United States in Paris.
