MALAGA, Oct 24 (Xinhua) -- Sonia Bermudez enjoyed a dream debut as the coach of the Spanish women's football team as her side all-but booked a place in the UEFA Nations League final with a 4-0 semi-final first-leg win against Sweden in Malaga's La Rosaleda Stadium.

Former player Bermudez was promoted to the full national team after the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) opted not to extend Montse Tome's contract after Spain lost the European Championship final to England on penalties in the summer.

The Spanish got off to a perfect start when Alexia Putellas opened the scoring after just 11 minutes with a curling free kick over the Swedish defensive wall that left Sweden goalkeeper Jennifer Falk with no chance.

There was a setback for Spain when Salma Paralluelo had to go off with a knee injury after she was brought down in the Swedish penalty area, but there was no penalty as she was just offside at the start of the move.

Salma was replaced by Barcelona teammate Claudia Pina who quickly made her mark, turning and scoring with a left-foot shot to make it 2-0 after Ona Battle's pass.

Pina also played a big role in Spain's third of the game, as she stretched to reach Vicky Lopez's cross to the far post. Although Pina's shot bounced out off the underside of the crossbar, Alexia was on hand to tap the ball into an empty net for Spain's third goal of the game.

The second half was cagey affair as the Swedes were able to pressure more effectively to deny Spain as much room in attack and until the closing moments the main news was Jenni Hermoso's return to international football after a year out of the national side.

Deep into injury time Smilla Holmberg curled a corner onto the top of the Spanish crossbar with Cata Coll in trouble, but the Spanish were able to go down the other end with Pina given time to turn and fire into the corner of the net and score a goal that means it would need a disaster to deny Spain a second successive Nations League final against either France or Germany. ■