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.
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.
A statue in Copenhagen is dressed in the No10 shirt of Christian Eriksen. Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
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)
Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers leads a largely Dutch team of match officials in Copenhagen. Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/REX/Shutterstock
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 may have come a game too soon for the Benfica defender. Timothy Castagne’s Euro 2020 campiagn is over after he suffered facial injuries in a collision with Daler Kuzyaev in Belgium’s opening win.
Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne shows no ill effects from the facial injuries that forced him off the field in the Champ[ions League final. Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
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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