Bundesliga at the Euros, Day 23
Semi-final lineups are now sorted, it will be a Wembley Stadium extravaganza over the next week as we edge closer and closer to crowning a new European champion. The Czech Republic took on Denmark in Baku in the early game, and the winner would take on the winners of Ukraine vs England who played out the final quarter-final in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Schick joins elite club but the Czechs fall short
Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick scored once again for the Czech Republic to put his name onto an exclusive list, but it was not enough as goals from Thomas Delaney and Kasper Dolberg were enough to give Denmark a semi-final place at Wembley on Wednesday.
Denmark took the lead after only 5 minutes when a Jens Stryger-Larsen corner found the unmarked Borussia Dortmund midfielder Thomas Delaney, who nodded in from close range to give the Danes the lead.
The 2nd goal came just on the stroke of half-time when a superb cross from Atalanta wing-back Joachim Maehle was met by Nice striker Kasper Dolberg at the back post. Denmark's lead doubled, Czech hopes dashed it would seem.
But a lifeline was granted for the Czechs just after the start of the 2nd half when that man Patrik Schick netted again to give the Czech Republic hope. The goal from the Bayer Leverkusen striker made him the 9th player in European Championship history to score 5 or more goals at a single EURO tournament. That goal also took him level with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of the EURO 2020 goalscorers list.
The Czechs could not equal the score and when the final whistle blew, it was the Danes on their knees celebrating their progress to the semi-finals to take on either Ukraine or England.
Czech Republic Starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
Vaclik
Coufal - Celustka - Kalas - Boril
Holes - Soucek
Masopust - Barak - Sevcik
Schick
Denmark Starting XI: (3-4-3)
Schmeichel
Christensen - Kjaer - Vestergaard
Stryger-Larsen - Hojbjerg - Delaney - Maehle
Braithwaite - Dolberg - Damsgaard
Sancho starts in dominant England win
Jadon Sancho got the start and played the full 90 minutes in a dominant England performance as they dispatched Ukraine 4-0 in Rome to set up a semi-final tie against Denmark at Wembley next Wednesday.
England got off to the perfect start when Raheem Sterling poked the ball into the path of England captain Harry Kane who himself poked the ball into the net to give England the lead.
Sancho was a great creative spark, and he caught the eye with a slaloming run taking on 3 Ukrainian defenders before winning a free-kick. Sancho could've scored a goal himself when a cross from Luke Shaw found its way to the Manchester United-bound winger, Sancho danced his way to engineer the space for the shot and forced a save from Bushchan in the Ukraine goal.
England added to their tally in the 2nd half thanks to 3 headers from Harry Maguire, Harry Kane again, and Jordan Henderson to give England the 4-0 lead. Jude Bellingham, who turned 18 on the same day that England beat Germany, came on as a second-half substitute in the 68th-minute for Kalvin Phillips, and the young lad put himself about in the 32 minutes he was on the pitch.
England have set up an effectively-home semi-final at Wembley against Denmark in front of a proposed 60,000 fans in the national stadium in England. They will contest the 2nd semi-final on Wednesday after the Tuesday semi-final of Italy vs Spain in the same stadium.
Ukraine Starting XI: (3-5-2)
Bushchan
Zabarnyi - Krivtsov - Matvienko
Karavaev - Shaparenko - Sydorchuk - Zinchenko - Mykolenko
Yarmolenko - Yaremchuk
England Starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
Pickford
Walker - Stones - Maguire - Shaw
Phillips - Rice
Sancho - Mount - Sterling
Kane