Denmark can still qualify: They need to beat Russia in their final group game and hope for the best. For the second time in two matches they’ve had more than 20 attempts on goal and lost. Belgium, for their part, become the first team in this tournament, to come from behind and win. I’ll leave you with Nick Ames’s report from Copenhagen. Thanks for joining and goodnight.
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Full time: Denmark 1-2 Belgium
Group B: It’s all over in Copenhagen, where Belgium have come from behind to win by the odd goal of three and book their passage to the last 16. The second half introduction of Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Axel Witsel made all the difference to Belgium, but Denmark can take heart both from an excellent first half performance and the fact they went down swinging haymakers. Metaphorical haymakers, to be clear.
90+5 min: Kasper Schmeichel goes up for a corner and Belgium almost score int his vacant goal after Lukaku heads the inswinger away. He gets away with it. One last counter-attack for Denmark, but they can’t get near the Belgium goal.
90+3 min: Courtois dawdles over a goal kick, prompting somebody in the stand behind thge goal to throw a cup of what one hopes is officially Uefa-approved beverage in his general direction. It lands on the pitch behind him.
90+2 min: Cornelius gets goal side of Denayer but falls over before he can make contact with a bouncing ball on the edge of the six-yard box.
90+1 min: Into the first of five mooted minutes of added time we go. Can Denmark rescue a point one suspects not even Belgium fans would begrudge them?
89 min: Now it’s Belgium who are hanging on, as Denmark lay siege to their goal. They’re sending cross after cross into the penalty area, the substitutes Cornelius and Olsen both wreaking something resembling havoc.
87 min: Oof! Martin Braithwaite hits the intersection of crossbar and upright with a header after getting the jump on his man to connect with an Olsen cross from the right.
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86 min: Now Maehle curls a cross towards the same area. Vertonghen heads clear.
86 min: Braithwaite curls a cross to the far post, where Thibaut Courtois plucks it from the sky.
85 min: Denmark substitution: Jannik Vestergaard off, Andreas Olsen on.
84 min: Cornelius squares the ball across the face of goal but Martin Braithwaite is unable to poke it goalwards.
82 min: Thorgan Hazard goes down suffering from cramp and gets no sympathy from the crowd, who boo him, or the referee, who orders him to the touchline if he wants to receive treatment.
82 min: Mathias Jensen is booked for a late challenge on Tielemans.
80 min: Courtois carries on while Belgium pass the ball around amongst themselves. They are unrecognisable from the rabble who traipsed off at half-time. It’s no great surprise, considering the identity of their second half substitutes.
78 min: There’s a break in play as Thibaut Courtois receives treatment for a knock to his left knee.
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76 min: Alderweireld sticks out a leg and blocks a Braithwaite shot from the edge of the Belgian penalty area. Moments previously, the sides had exchanged shots, Denmark’s coming from Cornelius and Belgikum’s from De Bruyne after good work from Lukaku.
75 min: Denmark double-substitution: Andreas Cornelius and Mathias Jensen on for Mikkel Damsgaard and Thomas Delaney.
72 min: Kevin De Bruyne fired low past Kasper Schmeichel from the edge of the Denamrk penalty, finishing a move in which played Eden Hazard, Axel Witsel and Romelu Lukaku all played their part. The ball was pinged hither and yon at mesmerising speed and a minimum of touches on the fringe of the Denmark penalty area before De Bruyne found hilmself in space and leathered it into the bottom left-hand corner.
GOAL! Denmark 1-2 Belgium (De Bruyne 71)
Belgium go in front. And it’s another one from the PlayStation.
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69 min: Delaney tries to play Maehle in behind with a wonderful through ball, but Denayer does well to intercepot. He undoes his good work by giving the ball away to Damsgaard, who throws himself to the ground in the Belgium penalty area. Yellow card.
68 min: Kevin De Bruyne tries to play Lukaku in behind after receiving a wonderful pass from Eden Hazard. Simon Kjaer makes a crucial interception.
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66 min: Having looked likely winners for so long in this game, Denmark now look in trouble and struggling to hang on for a draw. They were never going to be able to maintain their energy levels of the first half.
65 min: Belgium corner. Kevin De Bruyne’s delivery flashes across the face of goal but nobody in a white shirt can get a touch on it. Simon Kjaer heads the ball clear.
62 min: Danish double-substitution: Jens Stryger Larsen and Christian Noergaard on for Daniel Wass and Yussuf Poulsen.
60 min: Belgium double-substitution: Axel Witsel and Eden Hazard on for Dendoncker and Carrasco. This is Witsel’s first proper game since January, when he suffered a bad achilles injury.
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59 min: Daniel Wass is booked for a late challenge on Thomas Meunier.
56 min: Thorgan Hazard slots home from six yards out to finish a wonderful move by Belgian. Romelu Lukaku finally got in behind the Danish defence and pulled the ball inside to Kevin De Bruyne from the right side of the penalty area.
With three players converging on him in the Danish penalty area, he ignored two opportunities to shoot, waiting instead to thread the ball across the face of the six-yard box, where an incoming Thorgan Hazard had the relatively straightforward task of poking home from six yards.
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GOAL! Denmark 1-1 Belgium (Thorgan Hazard 55)
That is a wonderful equaliser! “It’s a PlayStation goal,” says Ally McCoist on co-comms for ITV. He’s not wrong.
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54 min: Simon Kjaer leaps to cut out an attempted Tielemans dink in behind with his head.
52 min: Lukaku receives the ball in acres of space wide on the right. He tries to cut inside and run towards the penalty area, but Vestergaard comes out to put a stop to his gallop and thump the ball into the stands. In doing so, the Danish defender earns himself a huge roar of approval from the stands.
50 min: Damsgaard draws a foul from Tielemans and wins a free-kick for Denmark just outside the Belgium penalty area, a few yards left of centre. He takes charge of the set piece but fires the ball straight into the defensive wall.
49 min: Tielemans stands the ball up for Thomas Meunier in the Denmark penalty area, but he makes a complete pig’s ear of his attempt at a header. He makes contact with the ball after mistiming his jump but doesn’t steer the ball anywhere near the Danish goal.
48 min: Thomas Delaney runs into space outside the Belgium penalty area and shoots from distance on the instruction of 25,000 fans in the stands. Wide.
47 min: Hoejbjerg lumps the ball long through the centre from just inside his own half but it sails straight through to Thibaut Courtois.
Second half: Denmark 1-0 Belgium
46 min: Belgium kick off, with Dries Mertens paying the price for his ineffectual first half performance. He’s replaced by Kevin De Bruyne, who makes his first appearance since suffering facial fractures in the Champions League final. Interestingly, he’s not wearing a mask.
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On ITV: Graeme Souness has said “Jan Vertonghen looks like he’s towing a carvan, he’s not up to the speed of this game.” It’s worth pointing out (a) Vertonghen came into this game carrying an ankle injury and (b) Belgium have Dedryck Boyata and Thomas Vermaelen on the bench, neither of whom are particularly speedy.
If Denmark win: All four teams in this group will be on three points going into the final round of matches.
Half-time: Denmark 1-0 Belgium
Peep! Denmark lead by the only goal of the game, having gone ahead through Yussuf Poulsen inside two minutes after a quite blistering start that completely overwhelmed their opponents. They are well worth their lead against a Belgium side that already look bereft of ideas and have been peculiarly lethargic. I will be astonished if Roberto Martinez doesn’t make changes at half-time. There’s no shortage of quality on his bench, that’s for sure.
45 min: For Denmark, Maehle pulls the ball back to Hojbjerg on the edge of the Belgium penalty area. He loses it and Belgium break upfield only to lose the ball when they are smarmed by retreating Danish defenders.
44 min: From the free-kick, Yannick Carrasco tries to pick out Romelu Lukaku at the far post but his delivery is diabolically bad. Wide.
43 min: Romelu Lukaku runs at the Denmark penalty area but has the ball nicked off his toe by Simon Kjaer. Moments later, Lukaku wins a free-kick off the Danish captain, almost in line with the right side of the Denmark penalty area.
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41 min: With half-time approaching, Denmark remain in the lead but may be annoyed that they have not converted more of their chances. They absolutely blitzed Belgium in the opening minutes and while Roberto Martinez’s side have worked their way back into the game, they have yet to create a chance of note. Denmark, by contrast, have had eight shots on goal, three of them on target.
39 min: Mertens and Meunier combine down the right for Belgium but their move comes to naught when Jannik Vestergaard gets involved and hoofs the ball clear.
37 min: Thomas Delaney lofts a high cross from the right towards Poulsen on the far side of the Belgium penalty area. With his back to goal, he controls it beautifully, taking it down with a wonderful fiorst touch. Dendoncker is right up his jacksy and doesn’t allow him to turn and get a shot off.
35 min: Now it’s Alderweireld’s turn to get caught on his heels and he loses the ball to Damsgaard. The man given the unenviable task of filling Eriksen’s size nines cuts inside and curls a low shot narrowly wide of the far upright.
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34 min: Vertonghen gets caught napping on the ball by Vass about 10 yards outside his own penalty area. The Danish midfielder tries to pick out Poulsen with a pass, but overhits it.
31 min: Belgium win a corner. Carrasco plays it short to Thorgan Hazard, who passes it backwards to Tielemans. After a little more fannying and faff, they win themselves another corner. This one is sent straight into the penalty area, where Schmeichel gets a glove to the ball.
29 min: Another free-kick for Belgium out by the left touchline, this time for a foul committed by Dries Mertens. Once again, Daniel Wass’s delivery lets him down. He sends the ball far too close to Courtois, who gathers comfortably.
28 min: Leander Dendoncker concedes a free-kick wide on the left. Daniel Wass curls the ball into the Belgium penalty area but fails to clear the first man.
26 min: Denmark get the ball forward again with Braithwaite and Damsgaard combining well. Braithwaite picks out Daniel Wass, who unleashes a shot from the edge of the penalty area. The ball sails high and wide of Belgium’s goal.
25 min: Belgium are finally playing at the same speed as Denmark but are having no luck in getting the ball anywhere near Romelu Lukaku, who seems isolated up front.
22 min: Belgium get forward but a Thomas Meunier cross from the right flies straight into the arms of Kasper Schmeichel. Romelu Lukaku hasn’t had a meaningful touch of the ball yet. He may not have had a touch at all.
20 min: Almost three minutes pass without Denmark threatening to increase their lead. Belgium will be happy with that, no doubt. They are, remember, the No1 ranked team in the world according to Fifa.
17 min: Jason Denayer sticks his head in to prevent Braithwaite steering a header goalwards at the near post. Moments previously, Vertonghen and he had been caught out by a through ball down the inside right, which led to another Poulsen cross from the right. Courtois collected that one.
14 min: Vertonghen looks way off the pace here and is beaten for speed as Denmark get another cross in from the right. There’s nobody on hand to connect.
13 min: With Jan Vertonghen stranded in no-man’s land, Belgium’s Thomas Meunier gets back to prevent Denmark striker Mikkel Damsgaard poking home a Poulsen cross from the right.
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12 min: Play having resumed, Belgium try to get a foothold in this game. They were absolutely blitzed in the opening six minutes but finally string a few passes together.
10 min: Play halts as all present in the ground, including the players and match officials, applaud Christian Eriksen, who can probably hear them from his hospital bed less than 400 meteres away.
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9 min: Going back to the goal, which seems a long time ago. Denayer gave the ball away with a loose pass out of defence straight to Hoijbjerg. Denayer compounded his error by getting sucked into space outside the penalty area, leaving a clear path for the Spurs midifleder to find Poulsen on the edge of the area. He made no mistaske, shooting low and hard beyond the reach of Courtois into the bottom left-hand corner.
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5 min: The Danish onslaught continues as Daniel Wass gets on the end of a cross from the left but steers a weak header into the arms of Courtois. Belgium plan to put the ball out of play so everybody in the ground can pay tribute to Eriksen on the 10-minute market. They must be wishing he wore No6 or No7, just so they can get a moment of respite a little earlier.
3 min: Belgium are all over the shop and almost go two gone as Joakim Maehle wriggles his way through the their penalty area, shoots and brings a smart save out of Thibaut Courtois, who can only parry the ball clear.
GOAL! Denmark 1-0 Belgium (Poulsen 2)
Denmark lead! A mistake from Jason Denayer results in Yussef Poulsen picking up a pass on the edge of the penalty area and shooting low into the far corner.
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1 min: Belgium’s Thorgan Hazard goes to ground wide on the right after finding himself on the receiving end of a “getting to know you” tackle from Daniel Wass.
Denmark v Belgium is go ...
1 min: Denmark get the ball rolling, their players wearing red shirts, shorts and socks. Their Belgian counterparts wear white shirts, shorts and socks.
Not long now: As a giant “Eriksen No10” shirt is unfurled on the pitch, the players of both teams prepare to march out. Jan Vertonghen leads the Belgian side, while Simon Kjaer wears the armband for Denmark. Good luck to all of them on what must be a weird day. It’s time for the anthems and kick off is less than five minutes away.
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This just in: Never mind the near death experiences or concussions, Uefa have moved quickly to stamp out the growing menace of players ... moving drinks bottles out of shot at press conferences.
Following Portugal skipper Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to move a bottle of Coca-Cola out of the picture and replace it with water (a move subsequently aped by Italy’s Manuel Locatelli) and French midfielder Paul Pogba’s removal of a bottle of Heineken, Uefa have warned participating federations of their responsibilites to sponsors.
“Uefa has reminded participating teams that partnerships are integral to the delivery of the tournament and to ensuring the development of football across Europe, including for youth and women,” they said.
“We are never fining players directly from the Uefa side, we will do this always through the participating national association and then they could look if they will go further to the player, but we are not going directly for the moment to the player,” said tournament director Martin Kallen.
Those teams: Roberto Martinez makes two changesd to his Belgium teamn. Thomas Meunier comes in for the injured Timothy Castagne, while Jason Denayer replaces Dedrick Boyata in defence.
Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand also makes two changes and looks to be switching to three at the back for this game. With Christian Eriksen absent, Yannik Vestergaard comes into defence while Mikkel Damsgaard comes into the forward line for Jonas Wind.
Full time: Ukraine 2-1 North Macedonia
Group C: Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine have prevailed over North Macedonia in a lively game featuring three goals, two saved penalties and a soupcon of VAR in Bucharest, leaving Goran Pandev and chums reliant on Austria doing them a favour against the Netherlands tonight if they are to avoid going out in the group stages.
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Denmark v Belgium line-ups
Denmark: Schmeichel; Christensen, Kjaer, Vestergaard, Maehle; Wass, Hoejbjerg, Delaney; Poulsen, Damsgaard, Braithwaite.
Belgium: Courtois; Alderweireld, Denayer, Vertonghen; Meunier, Dendoncker, Tielemans, Hazard; Mertens, Lukaku, Carrasco.
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A tribute: Both sets of players will halt play in the 10th minute of today’s game in order to take a moment so everyone in the stadium can send good vibes in the direction of Christian Eriksen. Ten, of course, being the Danish midfielder’s shirt number.
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Today’s match officials
- Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands)
- Referee’s assistants: Sander van Roekel and Erwin Zeinstra (Netherlands)
- Fourth Official: Andreas Ekburg (Sweden)
- Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel (Netherlands)
Early team news
It should go without saying that Denmark will be without Christian Eriksen. Kasper Hjulmand has an otherwise physically fit squad to choose from, but was planning to speak to the rest of his players individually in a bid to evaluate their state of mind following the traumatic events they watched unfold before making his selection for tonight.
For Belgium, Axel Witsel (achilles) and Kevin De Bruyne (facial fractures) are reported to have recovered from the injuries that kept them out of Belgium’s tournament build-up and the opening game in Moscow and both could make their first appearances in the competition this evening.
Jan Vertonghen is also reported to be fit but this match despite injuring his ankle against Russia. Timothy Castagne’s Euro 2020 campiagn is over after he suffered facial injuries in a collision with Daler Kuzyaev in Belgium’s opening win.
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Group B: Denmark v Belgium
Following the distressing events of Saturday night, when Christian Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the pitch, the players of Denmark have had a few days to come to terms with what happened to their teammate, Having been left with little or no option to play on against Finland in a match they lost, they have had a chance to regroup, gather their thoughts and now must go again.
Due in no small part to the heroic efforts of the medical staff who saved his life, Eriksen is currently recuperating in a hospital that’s just a Gareth Bale penalty kick away from the Parken Stadium and reports suggest he will be tuning in as his Denmark team-mates once again enjoy home advantage. We wish him all the very best in his recovery.
The players of Belgium, by contrast, have been clocking up the mileage. Since Saturday, they have travelled home from St Petersburg following their win over Russia, before travelling to Copenhagen for tonight’s game. A draw should see them through to the last 16. Kick-off at the Parken Stadium is at 5pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
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