European Curling Championships: Scotland beat Sweden 6-5 after extra end to retain title

Emotional Scotland skip Bruce Mouat savoured an "extra special" success as he made it four European titles out of four with a dramatic 6-5 win over Sweden in Aberdeen.

The Scots triumphed in the extra end to avenge their Olympic final defeat by the Swedes and be crowned European champions for the third year running.

It marks a first major title on home ice for Mouat's rink.

Earlier, Switzerland defeated Italy 8-4 to take bronze.

In the final, Scotland crucially had the hammer in the extra end and made it count, with Mouat delivering the title-winning stone.

"It is nice to have our first championship at home with the four of us, to get the trophy it is extra special," he said.

"Being in Scotland and having the chance to have a lot of family and friends that don't normally get to watch us, it is really nice to have them all here and supporting. We are going to have a really good party.

"The crowd were amazing during that final. I am pretty proud of this team, four wins from four Europeans. If you told us that at the start of our journey together in 2017, that would have been mad. I'm so excited."

Scotland - led by Mouat and also comprising Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan - took to the ice looking to continue their record of winning the event every time they had taken part in it.

As expected, the Swedes provided a formidable obstacle to the hosts' dreams of completing a remarkable quartet of European triumphs.

The vastly-experienced Niklas Edin's rink defeated the Scots in last year's Olympic final, and they also prevailed in the round-robin stages here.

Scotland started with the hammer, the last stone advantage, as the teams traded scores of two in the opening couple of ends.

With the contest ticking in to its second half, the Scots forced in a single to edge 4-3 ahead. At times you could hear a pin drop among the crowd at a tension-filled Curl Aberdeen venue, as the teams continued to try and break the other down in a high-quality encounter.

As the match ebbed and flowed, it was no surprise that it was taken to an extra end, and Mouat held his nerve to spark scenes of elation among the home crowd.

Vice-skip Hardie said: "Coming in to the event we maybe weren't playing our best, we had two poor events out in Canada, so to come here and return to top form is great.

"We are wanting to stay at the top of the game, get back to the top of the world rankings as well so that is probably the next goal before the end of the year."