And now it’s time to join Daniel Harris for Finland v Russia – live! And close down this liveblog. Thanks for your comments and attention. Enjoy today’s matches. Bye.
Some more reaction to Benjamin Pavard’s injury, with the brain injury charity Headway describing the way it was handled as “sickening”. Pavard was involved in a collision with Germany’s Robin Gosens in the second half of Tuesday’s match and said he had been “a little knocked out for 10 or 15 seconds” but he returned to the action.
Peter McCabe, the chief executive of Headway, said: “The way this incident was handled was sickening to watch. Uefa has to come out and immediately explain how it was allowed to happen and what action it will now take to ensure something similar does not occur in the future.
“This is another example of football authorities failing to protect the short- and long-term health of a player. It was plain for all to see that Pavard was unable to protect himself from the fall. Pavard’s later statement that he lost consciousness confirms the seriousness of the incident.
“We have continuously been told that football’s concussion protocols are fit for purpose and that temporary concussion substitutes are not necessary. But here we have yet another example where it is simply not credible to suggest that a concussion could not be ‘suspected’ or a possible consequence of the impact. However, after a brief on-pitch assessment the player was allowed to continue.”
The Fiver has landed, feasting on garra rufa fish, Ronaldo’s water and some more interesting things from Sweden.
And here’s Ben McAleer, on opening-match non-starters who really ought to be in their countries’ first XIs second time out:
Domestic football doing a lot of butting-in on the conversation this morning, and here’s some more: the news that Celtic have been drawn against data analysis’s Midtjylland in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. It will be new manager Ange Postecoglou’s first official game in charge, with the first leg at Parkhead on 20 or 21 July. The return leg will take place in Denmark a week later. What could possibly go wrong for the Hoops?
Here’s the draw in full, if you care to make sense of it:
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) / Valur (ISL) vs Omonoia (CYP)Slovan Bratislava (SVK) / Shamrock Rovers (IRL) vs Young Boys (SUI)
Bodø/Glimt (NOR) / Legia Warszawa (POL) vs Flora Tallinn (EST) / Hibernians (MLT)
Connah’s Quay Nomads (WAL) / Alashkert FC (ARM) vs Teuta (ALB) / Sheriff Tiraspol (MDA)
Olympiacos (GRE) vs Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) / Neftçi (AZE)
Maccabi Haifa (ISR) / Kairat Almaty (KAZ) vs Crvena zvezda (SRB)
Fola Esch (LUX) / Lincoln Red Imps (GIB) vs CFR Cluj (ROU) / Borac Banja Luka (BIH)
Malmö (SWE) / Riga FC (LVA) vs HJK Helsinki (FIN) / Budućnost Podgorica (MNE)
Ferencváros (HUN) / Winners of the Preliminary round* vs Žalgiris Vilnius (LTU) / Linfield (NIR) Shkëndija (MKD) / Mura (SVN) vs Ludogorets 1945 (BUL) / Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR)
League path
Rapid Wien (AUT) vs Sparta Praha (CZE)
Celtic (SCO) vs Midtjylland (DEN)
PSV Eindhoven (NED) vs Galatasaray (TUR)
Updated
Less than two and a half hours to kick-off in St Petersburg, so here’s some pre-match talk, courtesy of PA:
Finland boss Markku Kanerva admitted he was unsure how his players will react to Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest in their next game on Wednesday against Russia. The Finns launched their first major tournament with a 1-0 win against Denmark on Sunday, but their opening Group B fixture was overshadowed by Eriksen’s first-half collapse.
Eriksen is recovering in hospital and Finland have since relocated from Copenhagen to St Petersburg. Kanerva’s squad could book their place in the round of 16 with victory if Denmark fail to beat Belgium.
“It is hard to estimate how the event of Eriksen will affect different people and of course we all have it in our minds,” former Finland defender Kanerva told a press conference.
“We are very glad that Eriksen is doing better and I hope regarding the difficult situation we will be able to concentrate on tomorrow’s match. Certainly it will remain in our minds, even after the tournament. Maybe we will be able to appreciate the (Denmark) win even more. But it is not an easy task for all of us to concentrate only on football because there were bigger things than football in play.”
Finland sealed their place at a major tournament for the first time in November 2019 when finishing behind Italy in their qualifying group. Kanerva, a former schoolteacher, said Saturday’s win was the pinnacle of his managerial career so far.
“It was one game and an important one, but we don’t want to dwell on that,” he added. “We want to be fully focused for the match against Russia. We’re still on the road.”
Russia, bidding to bounce back from their 3-0 opening group defeat to Belgium, have been dealt a blow with news Yuri Zhirkov could be ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
The Zenit St Petersburg midfielder was forced off against Belgium due to a calf injury and head coach Stanislav Cherchesov revealed Daler Kuzyaev, Fyodor Kudryashov, Georgi Dzhikiya and Aleksandr Golovin were all doubtful.
Cherchesov told a press conference: “The Finnish team is a strong one and they showed it (against Denmark). The game could have worked differently, but we knew from the beginning that they were a strong opponent.
“It was somewhat a surprise result, but the Finland players’ attitude towards the game did not surprise me.”
Latest on the police response to the Greenpeace parachute protest:
I suspected we’d have a bit of power-ranking debate BTL today and sure enough Icke9498 has put this one out there after the first round of fixtures:
Are we going to have power rankings now that the first round of group games has been concluded? Here is my first draft:
1. France
2. Italy
3. Belgium
4. Portugal
5. England
6. Netherlands
7. Austria
8. Czechia
9. Slovakia
10. Germany
11. Ukraine
12. Spain
13. Sweden
14. Denmark
15. Finland
16. Switzerland
17. Wales
18. Croatia
19. Poland
20. Turkey
21. Russia
22. Hungary
23. Scotland
24. North Macedonia
Think I might have the Czechs higher and Russia lower myself, and would drop the Netherlands a couple of places on account of their glaring vulnerability at the back. But, all part of the fun.
More domestic transfer news just in from PA Media:
Watford have confirmed the signing of defender Danny Rose on a two-year deal following his departure from Tottenham. Full-back Rose, 30, was released at the end of his Spurs contract, having spent last season training with the club’s under-23s, and will join the Hornets as a free agent on July 1.
Former England international Rose came through the Leeds youth setup before joining Tottenham and had a short loan spell with Watford in 2009, appearing seven times.
Raheem Sterling has been talking about his downtime routine at Euro 2020, and meditation is a big part of it. “I’m doing a little bit of meds,” Sterling said. “I try and do it before I go to sleep – get relaxed before I go to sleep. Just taking time out, being thankful and grateful for the day.
“[I’m] just trying to get connected. On the whole, not a lot of us get connected to our bodies and our brains so I am trying to get everything as one connected and be in a good place.”
Quips aplenty BTL on the Ronaldo v Coke story. Here’s Chaval:
“Ronaldo wiping £4 billion off Coke’s global shares might just be the greatest thing he has ever done. Maybe Messi could respond by rejecting Pepsi?”
More on the issues thrown up by Christian Eriksen’s collapse on Saturday and the importance of defibrilators. It all brought back painful memories for Charlie Edinburgh, son of Justin, the former Spurs defender and Newport and Leyton Orient manager who died two years ago following a cardiac arrest at a gym. Charlie has since been campaigning for Justin’s Law – the provision of defibriliators at all leisure facilities – through his JE3 Foundation. More here from PA Media:
Charlie Edinburgh admitted watching Denmark playmaker Christian Eriksen collapse at Euro 2020 brought back “horrific” memories, but he hopes the crucial use of a defibrillator will help push through Justin’s Law.
The former Tottenham midfielder suffered a cardiac arrest during his country’s opening game with Finland on Saturday and had to be resuscitated on the pitch.
Eriksen remains in hospital but provided an update on his Instagram page on Tuesday saying “I feel okay”.
Ex-Spurs defender Justin Edinburgh, who died two years ago this month, also sustained a cardiac arrest while working out at a gym in Chelmsford but, with no defibrillator on site, he did not survive. His son Charlie set up the Justin Edinburgh 3 Foundation to continue his dad’s legacy, with one of the goals to campaign for Justin’s Law, whereby it is mandatory for all health and sports facilities in the UK to be equipped with a defibrillator.
He told the PA news agency: “I was watching it live at the time with my mum and it was horrific, to be honest. It brought back a lot of bad feeling and emotion. We were sitting there in tears just praying he would be OK.
“Obviously the key factor of why Christian is still alive now and will be able to live to tell his story is because there was a defibrillator available and they utilised it as quickly as they could, so again for us it magnifies the work we are doing and why we are campaigning for Justin’s Law.”
Since the JE3 Foundation launched in the summer of 2019, nine defibrillators have been donated to sporting venues; this includes non-league clubs Billericay and AFC Rushden & Diamonds where Edinburgh managed. While defibrillators at major stadiums for Euro 2020 and in the Premier League are expected, it is further down the football pyramid where they are not readily available, especially with a price between 750 and 1,300.
Since Eriksen required emergency treatment on Saturday, more than 70 sports clubs, schools and community groups have launched fundraising campaigns to help them afford a defibrillator. “From our perspective more needs to be done,” Edinburgh insisted.
“We talk about people performing in their sport to the highest level or working in a gym to better their fitness levels, they are pushing their bodies to the limit and this life-saving piece of equipment needs to be there should something like what happened to my dad and Christian occur.
“It will change it from being about luck because there will be more outcomes like Christian. It won’t be Justin was unlucky but Christian was lucky because of where he was. This is why we are pushing hard for this so we are saving lives and it is the ripple effect it has.
“We felt it first hand with losing dad and how tragic that was and the outpouring for him, but we want to make sure no other family has to experience what we went through.”
The recent second anniversary of Edinburgh’s death was marked with the launch of the JE3 Foundation website - je3foundation.com - while plans are in place for large-scale cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) workshops to be hosted across the UK later in the year.
A minimum of three defibrillators per quarter will also be donated to sports clubs and venues in memory of the former Leyton Orient boss, with a petition set up to raise awareness of Justin’s Law quickly gaining signatures and being shared on social media.
Edinburgh said: “With the JE3 Foundation, we speak about access, training and campaigning, so we are trying to make the defibrillators accessible with the donations, offering training to educate people around the importance of CPR and how to use a defibrillator with confidence and campaigning for Justin’s Law.
“I am really hoping Saturday’s events can push it through and make the relevant authorities stand up and take notice to see more needs to be done because this can’t continue to happen and people can’t continue to lose their lives when there is a piece of equipment available which can help save them.”
An update on the parachuting protester story, with Greenpeace’s apology:
There’s been plenty of talk about the absence of Real Madrid players from the Spain side this year, but rather less about England starting against Croatia with no Liverpool, Manchester United or Arsenal players. The old order changeth. This week’s Knowledge discusses when that previously happened, which was also at the European Championship, and not one to remember. Also, Notts County old boys at the Euros and offside goalkeepers.
Anyway, enough club blether and back to the Euros. We’ve not talked yet about tonight’s Italy v Switzerland set-to, perhaps the pick of today’s matches. Both sides’ attacking intent impressed in their opening games and there’s a sense that this match will determine the Group A winners.
In the pre-match presser on Tuesday, Italy’s defensive stalwart Leonardo Bonucci said of his squadmates: “This is the greatest team spirit I have encountered. At no time have there been any issues in the squad. It is a very tight group and it is little wonder then that we are getting results.” He also said England were the team that have impressed him the most so far at Euro 2020.
The 34-year-old said: “Besides the teams that still need to play – who will of course impress us because they are all top countries – England have really stood out to me. For the approach they showed, the way the were willing to work hard for one another and the fact they sought three points, England are the team that have impressed me most so far.”
The Swiss playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri, who is up against his former Internazionale manager Roberto Mancini, who brought him to San Siro in January 2015 for a truncated six-month spell, said: “I am really looking forward to the game and I look forward to seeing Roberto. He is a great person and I am really happy that it is going well for him and he has made Italy a top team.
“They are one of the favourites for this tournament. They will try to attack. It is not the Italy that used to defend all the time. It will be a challenge but we will try to create problems for them. It will be a difficult game but we are confident.”
Italy could make one enforced change with right-back Alessandro Florenzi doubtful with a calf injury.
“As a Stuttgart fan, I’ll miss González,” writes Kári Tulinius, “an entertaining forward who served VfB well. Brighton fans can get excited about his arrival. Here’s a stand out goal from last season, a flying header scored against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Überragender Spielzug zum 3⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣. #Bundesliga-Treffer des #VfB‼ ⚽💥
— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) January 19, 2021
👉 starke Balleroberung von Waldemar #Anton
👉 feine Flanke von Borna #Sosa
👉 traumhafter Flugkopfball von @nicoivang19#VfB #auscannstatt #VfBBMG pic.twitter.com/E4LwCwmGWT
The Premier League never truly leaves us, and look here: the fixtures are out, the main takeaways from which are that each team are going to play all the other teams twice (that quip never gets old, or funny).
Anyway, Manchester City start their title defence at Tottenham, who may or may not have a manager and a broader strategic purpose by then. More here:
More injury news, this time on Belgium’s Timothy Castagne, who has had surgery on the fractured eye socket that Roberto Martínez said had ruled him out of Euro 2020, though the defender says he hasn’t ruled out returning if Belgium go deep into the tournament. This from Reuters:
Timothy Castagne has undergone surgery on a double fracture of his eye socket suffered in the European Championship at the weekend, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
The fullback was injured in a heavy collision with Russian Daler Kuzyaev in the first half of Saturday*s 3-0 Group B win in St Petersburg, fracturing the eye socket below and to the right of his right eye.
He was immediately substituted and within hours had been ruled out of the tournament by coach Robert Martinez, though he has told team mates he wants to be back for the closing stages if Belgium progress that far. Castagne underwent the operation on Tuesday.
Sponsors are not having it all their own way at this Euros. This from Reuters:
France midfielder Paul Pogba removed a bottle of Heineken beer that had been placed in front of him at a Euro 2020 news conference on Tuesday, a day after Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo moved aside Coca-Cola bottles in a similar set-up.
Pogba, a practising Muslim, removed the bottle when he sat down to speak to the media after he was named ‘Man of the Match’ in France’s 1-0 Group F win over Germany.
On Monday, Ronaldo removed two bottles of Coca-Cola at a news conference and held up a bottle of water shouting “Agua” in Portuguese.
In domestic transfer news, Brighton are closing on a club record £25m deal for the Stuttgart striker Nicolás González. Read more here.
And talking of Elis, here’s his latest, on watching Wales away – at home.
So anyway, let’s look forward. We start at 2pm BST with Finland v Russia in St Petersburg. The Finns’ historic opening win over Denmark was completely and understandably overshadowed by Christian Eriksen’s collapse but, focusing on the pitch, they have a golden opportunity to progress, particularly given Russia’s pallid display against Belgium last Saturday, perhaps the poorest of any side in the opening round of fixtures. We’ll have hot minute-by-minute coverage from lunchtime.
Later, it’s crunch time for Wales, who need to improve on a slightly flat and disjointed opening display against Switzerland when they face Turkey, who produced an even flatter performance in being eviscerated by Italy. Wales are braced for a feisty atmosphere at a game where Turkey supporters will be in a clear majority. Our man in Baku, Ben Fisher, previews it all here.
But Wales’s hardy travelling fans are well used to being miles from home, outnumbered, odds stacked against them, and coming home with a few tales to tell. All of which gives me an excuse to re-up Elis James’s wonderful pre-tournament piece about the Wales away counterculture, and not just because a couple of longstanding mates get some airtime. Not just about Wales but about what football fandom in general can be with the right attitude:
Preamble
Morning everyone, and welcome to day six of Euro 2020, and at this early hour we’re still very much digesting last night’s eventful encounter in Munich, where France showed the sort of supreme, efficient economy that won them the World Cup in seeing off Germany 1-0. There was only one goal but a multitude of talking points: the pre-match Greenpeace parachute protest that went wrong when the demonstrator got caught in an overhead camera cable, resulting in several fans being injured; a briefly alarming injury on the pitch to France’s Benjamin Pavard, who admitted losing consciousness “for 10 to 15 seconds” after a clash with Robin Gosens; and, on a weirder tip, Antonio Rüdiger taking a bite out of Paul Pogba. Barney Ronay writes on the Manchester United midfielder’s imperious display here.
It was all something of a headline-stealer from His record-breaking feats with Portugal earlier in the evening. Cristiano Ronaldo embellished a not totally convincing Portugal performance against a tenacious Hungary with two late goals, having missed a sitter earlier in the game, to become the European Championship’s record goalscorer. It all sets up Portugal v Germany on Saturday deliciously. Ronaldo’s also been sticking it to The Man by seemingly single-handedly wiping off millions from the value of soft drink conglomerates.
We’ll chat about today’s games in a moment but in the meantime, inject today’s Euro 2020 Daily into your ears before facing the world:
