Jose Mourinho believes that England will face Denmark in the semi finals of Euro 2020 with Gareth Southgate’s side seeing off Ukraine in Saturday’s last eight tie.
The new Roma boss was confident that the Three Lions would encounter few problems against Ukraine, who edged out Sweden in Tuesday’s Round of 16 clash.
Andriy Shevchenko’s side only qualified out of the group stage as the fourth best third-placed finisher in their group - having lost to both the Netherlands and Austria, whilst edging out North Macedonia.
England are yet to concede a goal in the tournament with this week’s victory over Germany in the Round of 16 giving hope that they can go much deeper into the tournament.
Saturday night’s match against Ukraine in Rome is the first match that Southgate’s side will be playing away from Wembley - with the North London location also the venue for both semi-finals of the competition along with the decider.
The winners of England’s tie against Ukraine will face the side who emerge victorious from the last eight clash between Denmark and Czech Republic.
Those two will play each other earlier on Saturday in Baku, after those teams eliminated Wales and the Netherlands respectively in the Round of 16.
The other round of the draw sees Spain paired against Switzerland - who stunningly eliminated world champions France in the previous round - face the winners of the highly-anticipated match between the world’s number one ranked side Belgium play Italy, with both sides having won all of their four games to date thus far.
Mourinho has now given his predictions on how the quarter finals of the tournament will pan out over the next two days.
He foresees few difficulties for England or Spain in their respective ties, while he has predicted Denmark and Italy to sneak through in their fixtures.
Mourinho explained
“Let me give you my view - England (to beat Ukraine for sure) and Czech Republic against Denmark will be a difficult one but I would say Denmark.
“Belgium against Italy is a big one, a really big one! If I don’t say Italy then when I land there tomorrow they will kill me, so I have to say Italy!"
The last eight kicks off with Switzerland vs Spain, a game which Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka will miss through suspension.
Xhaka shone against France in the last 16 and is widely expected to join up with Mourinho at Roma when the summer is over, having been made a priority transfer by the new Giallorossi boss.
Which nation will win Euro 2020? Comment below
Evaluating the Friday night encounter, Mourinho said: “For Switzerland against Spain, it’s another big one but Xhaka is not playing and they (Switzerland) need him so Spain are favourites.
“Spain will play Italy (in the semi-finals) and Denmark will play England.”
Euro 2020 has proven itself hugely difficult to predict thus far as many of the pre-tournament favourites have already been eliminated.
The so-called ‘Group of Death’ of Group F which consisted of France, Germany, Portugal and Hungary have all been knocked out ahead of the quarter finals.
Monday’s action - which saw Switzerland eliminate France and Croatia take Spain into extra-time - saw teams with 3-1 leads in the 80th minute fail to hold onto their leads.
The semi-finals will be played over Tuesday and Wednesday next week with the final to be played on Sunday 11 July.
