England cruised into the EURO 2020 semi-finals for the first time since 1996 after defeating Ukraine 4-0 in Rome, and they will now face Denmark back at Wembley. England manager Gareth Southgate brought back Mason Mount into the side after he was forced to isolate due to close contact with Scotland’s Billy Gilmour, who had tested positive for COVID-19, while there was also a surprise start for Jadon Sancho, who is on the verge of a move to Manchester United. Andriy Shevchenko, the Ukraine manager, made one change from the side that defeated Sweden in the previous round, as Vitaliy Mykolenko came into the team instead of Taras Stepanenko.
England began like a house on fire, with captain Harry Kane running onto Raheem Sterling’s brilliant reverse ball to open the scoring inside five minutes. They controlled the match from then on, although Ukraine began to grow into proceedings after switching to a back four, which was precipitated by Serhiy Kryvtsov’s injury. England started the second half in even more blistering fashion than the first half, as Harry Maguire headed in Luke Shaw’s free-kick to put the Three Lions 2-0 up and well on course for a return to Wembley. It was 3-0 a few minutes later, as Shaw turned provider again, this time for Kane to nod in his second goal of the match. Kane was denied a hattrick by a superb save from Heorhiy Bushchan, as the Ukraine goalkeeper blocked a ferocious left-footed volley from the England captain, but England scored from the resulting corner, as substitute Jordan Henderson nodded in Mason Mount’s corner for his first England goal ever, in his 62nd appearance. Harry Kane is now England’s second-highest goalscorer at major tournaments with nine goals, level with Alan Shearer and just one behind Gary Lineker, and he has one more opportunity to add to his tally when England will face Denmark at Wembley in the EURO 2020 semi-finals. Check out our EURO 2020 analytics report from this match which has all the key statistics, data and visualisations.
