Denmark’s fairytale run at EURO 2020 continued, as they defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 to progress to the semi-finals for the first time since the 1992 tournament – when they went on to win the whole thing. This is the fourth time that Denmark have made it to the semi-finals of a European Championship. Kasper Hjulmand opted for the same side that overcame Wales in the round of 16, while Jaroslav Silhavy brought back Jan Boril at left-back, with Vladimir Darida only on the bench.
Denmark started strongly, scoring after just five minutes through Thomas Delaney, who was unmarked from Jens Stryger Larsen’s corner. They continued to press and attack, with Mikkel Damsgaard’s shot taking a deflection and looping over the Czech Republic goalkeeper a few minutes later, but it was cleared off the line. Delaney saw another effort go just wide of the post, while Kasper Schmeichel had to make a good save from the Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Holes to keep things level. Denmark doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, when Joachim Maehle advanced from left wing-back and delivered an outstanding cross with the outside of his right foot for Kasper Dolberg to convert from close range. The Czech Republic made two changes at half-time, with Michael Krmencik and Jakub Jankto coming on, and this had an immediate impact, with Patrik Schick finishing well from Vladimir Coufal’s cross. This goal took Schick to five goals at EURO 2020, level at the top of the Golden Boot standings with Cristiano Ronaldo. Denmark had chances to finish the game off, most notably through Yussuf Poulsen, but did not take them, while the Czech Republic continued to push for an equalizer. Antonin Barak went extremely close with a volley late in the match, but it went wide, and thus the Czech Republic were eliminated from EURO 2020 after a spirited campaign. Check out our EURO 2020 analytics report which has all the key statistics, data and visualisations.
