53 min: Neco Williams loops a cross into the Denmark penalty area and Bale attacks the high ball. He’s unable to control his header and sends the ball wide.
51 min: Maehle stands the ball up for Damsgaard near the penalty spot and he attempts to chest it down. Wales clear. Braithwaite gets another cross in from the right and Neco Williams heads clear.
49 min: A Dolberg foul on Kieffer Moore goes unpunished in the build-up and Braithwaite canters up the right wing. He squaresthe ball into the penalty area and Neco Williams hits a woeful clearance straight to the feet of Kasper Dolberg, who slots home. The Welsh players complain about the earlier foul on Moore but the goal stands.
Dolberg scores his second to double Denmark’s lead.
Kasper Dolberg doubles the Danes lead. Photograph: Koen van Weel/Reuters
47 min: The ball’s floated towards Kieffer Moore, who gets his head to it but can’t control it. On ITV co-comms, Robbie Savage says Wales’s wide players are too wide and their sitting midfielders are too deep, which means Moore is isolated. If he gets a knockdown, there’s nobody on hand to capitalise.
46 min: Bale starts the second half on the left, with Dan James moving to the right.
46 min: Play resumes with Denmark on the ball. There are no changes in personnel on either side.
Stuart James(@stujames75)
Moore challenged for the next ball after the booking with his arms by his side. Looks ridiculous doing that but he’s got no choice now. Referees too quick to show yellows for aerial challenges. Nobody wants to see elbows. But got to be a level of understanding about heading.
Peep! Wales go in for the break trailing by an excellent Kasper Dolberg goal scored on the 27 minute mark. They’re lucky to be just a goal down, having been completely dominated for all but the opening 10 minutes of this game. Denmark asserted their authority by moving Andreas Christensen out of their back three to play just in front of Kjaer and Vestergaard.
45+1 min:Denmark corner after a Maehle shot from a narrow angle is saved by Ward’s right hand. I’m not sure it was on target but ther Wales goalkeeper couldn’t be sure. Nothing comes of the set piece.
45 min: Maehle gallops down the left flank trying to control the bouncing ball but is dispossessed by Joe Morrell.
42 min: Denmark corner. It’s taken short, the ball’s crossed into the Wales penalty area and cleared. Denmark are in complete control of this game as we approach half-time, which can’t come soon enough for Wales.
40 min: Rather harshly, Kieffer Moore is booked for catching Simon Kjaer with an unintentional elbow as the pair contested a high ball. He’ll miss the quarter-final should Wales overturn their deficit and win this game. Wales substitution: Neco Williams on for Connor Roberts.
39 min: Roberts’ goose is cooked. We won’t be seeing him again this evening. Play resumes with Gareth Bale playing at right-back and Wales temporarily down to 10 men.
38 min: Connor Roberts stretches to keep the ball in play as he tries to run on to a pass down the touchline from deep. He appears to have suffered a groin injury and there’s a welcome break in play for Wales as he receives treatment.
36 min:Wales are all over the place at the moment and have been since going behind. Ward flaps at a Delaney cross under pressure from Vestergaard and is lucky to win a free-kick.
34 min:Denmark throw-in, halfway inside the Wales half. From that they win another, further up the pitch near the corner flag. A brilliant Larsen cross to the near post almost picks out Dolberg but the ball ends up going out for a corner.
32 min:Denmark go close to scoring a second against a clearly rattled Welsh side. Damsgaard picks out Dolberg with a cross from the byline to the near post and the striker tries to flick it goalwards from close range. Ward saves with his feet.
30 min: There was a VAR check for offside in tthe build-up to that goal but it stands. German official Bastien Dankert could find no reason to rule it out in his Nyon bunker.
28 min: That was a terrific goal. After excellent work down the left between Damsgaard and Maehle, the ball came Dolberg’s way in the centre. From about 25 yards out, he curled a low shot around two Welsh defenders and into the bottom right-hand corner. Danny Ward had no chance of getting anywhere near that.
Denmark lead! Kasper Dolberg curls a wonderful shot inside the right-hand upright from distance.
Kasper Dolberg opens the scoring for the Danes. Photograph: Koen van Weel/Reuters
25 min: Joe Rodon is booked for a foul on Kasper Dolberg after getting the wrong side of the Denmark striker and complains to the referee upon being cautioned. He was bang to rights.
Joe Rodon’s not happy to go into the book. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/Reuters
23 min: Thomas Delaney sends a cropss into the Wales penalty area from the right after getting in behind. He tries to pick out Dolberg at the far post but Connor Roberts heads the ball out for a corner.
21 min: From that corner Denmark win another, the ball going out off Joe Rodon as Simon Kjaer tried to steer it goalwards. Kieffer Moore heads this inswinger clear.
Wales defend a Danish corner. Photograph: Koen van Weel/Reuters
19 min: Denmark win themselves a corner. Jens Stryger Larsen raises his right hand and sends the ball towards the far post, where Christensen wins another corner off Mepham.
18 min: Dan James cuts inside from the left and unleashes a low shot. It takes a little deflection on its way into the arms of Kasper Schmeichel, but doesn’t trouble the goalkeeper unduly.
17 min: Thomas Delaney passes the ball out of play, giving Wales a throw-in halfway inside the Denmark half. Nothing comes of it.
16 min: Braithwaite shoves Ben Davies off his feet on the edge of the Wales six-yard box. Free-kick for Wales.
15 min: Bale canters down the right and stabs the ball across the edge of the Denmark penalty area with the outside of his left foot. Aaron Ramsey’s shot takes a deflection into the arms of Kasper Schmeichel. Wales are in the ascendency here.
13 min: Hjoebjerg goes to ground holding his hip after a collision with Kieffer Moore. He’s OK.
12 min: A low drive from Bale, from about 30 yards out, sails a few feet wide of the left upright.
11 min: Aaron Ramsey collects a James cross from the left and shoots twice in quick succession from about 10 yards out. Both efforts meet a wall of Danish resistance.
10 min: Bale sends a shot drifting wide of the far upright after Dan James had made room for him to shoot with a smart decoy run. It was a left-footed effort from Bale after cutting inside from the right but he didn’t get enough curl on it.
Gareth Bale takes a shot. Photograph: Peter Dejong - Pool/Getty Images
9 min: Bale beats Maehle and Vestergaard down the right touchline and sends a cross deep into the Denmark penalty area. It’s cleared.
8 min: Kasper Dolberg turns and shoots from distance after riding a challenge from Joe Rodon a few yards outside the Wales penalty area. It’s ridiculously high and wide.
7 min: Joe Morrell clears a Martin Braithwaite cross into the Wales penalty area before Pierre Emile Hjoebjerg can control it on the edge of the box.
6 min:Denmark win a free-kick deep inside their own half for a Joe Morrell foul on Mikkel Damsgaard. He cleaved through the back of the Danish winger.
5 min: Dan James curls the ball into the mixer, where Martin Braithwaite clears.
4 min: Free-kick for Wales, wide on the right. Dan James curls a low ball into the penalty area and it’s put out for a corner.
4 min:Wales launch their first attack of note but Dan James is unable to prevent a pass from Bale from going out of play for a Danish throw-in.
2 min: A very positive start from Denmark. Thomas Delaney has an attempted cross into the Wales penalty area blocked. In a nice touch from Wales, Gareth Bale presented Denmark skipper Simon Kjaer with a framed Wales shirt that had “Eriksen 10” printed on the back.
1 min: Chris Mepham slides in to dispossess Martin Braithwaite as he canters down the right wing chasing a through ball.
1 min: Wales get the ball rolling, their players wearing red shirts, shorts and socks. The players of Denmark wear all white.
Wales hero Gareth Bale with eyes on the ball. Photograph: Koen van Weel/Reuters
Not long now: Referee Daniel Siebert leads the teams out, Wales arriving first, followed in close order by Denmark. Both sets of players line up either side of the match officials and prepare to belt out their national anthems. Kick-off is just a five minutes away.
Wales fans are rather outnumbered in Amsterdam today, with around 15,000 Denmark fans in the Johan Cruyff Arena, compared to a 10s of their Welsh counterparts. Photograph: TF-Images/DeFodi Images/Getty Images
A tale of two City ... goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel and Danny Ward will become the first two Leicester City goalkeepers to face each other in the knockout stages of a major international tournament this evening. Ward is very much the understudy at the King Power Stadium, having watched Schmeichel play 114 consecutive Premier League games since he joined the club from Liverpool three years ago. He only played five games for Leicester last season but has acquitted himself every well since becoming Robert Page’s No1 for Wales in this tournament.
Danny Ward rolls the ball out during Wales’s defeat at the hands of Italy last Sunday. Photograph: Chris Ricco - UEFA/UEFA/Getty Images
Those teams: There are two changes to the Denmark team that trounced Russia in Copenhagen. Kasper Dolberg comes in for Yussef Poulsen up front, while Jens Stryger Larsen replaces Daniel Wass at right wing-back. Neither Poulsen nor Wass are in the matchday squad.
Robert Page makes three changes. Ben Davies, Chris Mepham and Kieffer Moore return to the starting line-up, with Neco Williams, Chris Gunter and the suspended Ethan Ampadu making way.
The Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, poses with two Denmark fans in Amsterdam. Photograph: BSR Agency/Getty Images
The professional Welshman and award-winning comedian, podcaster, TV and radio presenter, Swansea City fan and boulevardier about Carmarthen town has taken on far too much work during these Euros, a state of affairs that has resulted in him having anxiety dreams about meeting the deadline for his painstakingly crafted Guardian columns about his beloved Wales. In his latest epistle, he’s reduced to writing about fridge magnets. Read on ...
Robert Page speaks
“He wears the armband for a reason,” he said of his captain Gareth Bale. “He’s a model professional, looks after himself and he has a family. He’s great around the changing room, he’s got a great group of friends in here. It’s not about Gareth Bale. It’s about us as a nation and all of us together.”
On the state of his squad’s fitness: “Everyone’s fit other than Ethan [Ampadu] for a one-game suspension,” he said. “I’ve known [the team] for a while. We had to tweak things against a very strong Italy team. We’re capable of adapting to a couple of formations and different personnel. We’re ready for a battle, because that’s what it’s going to be. It’s all-out now. The gloves are off. We’re fully ready for it.”
Robert Page takes questions from the ladies and gentlemen of the Fourth Estate at his pre-match press conference. Photograph: UEFA/AFP/Getty Images
Kasper Hjulmand speaks
“I have great respect for them and all that they have achieved recently, including that semi-final [in 2016],” said Denmark’s coach, when asked about tonight’s opponents. “It’s a country that supports their national team 100 per cent, and the players are working for each other.”
On tonight’s game: “We are very much looking forward to it! After three very emotional matches in Parken [Stadium] – we have great expectations for this tie.”
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand addresses the press. Photograph: Reuters
Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)
Assistant referees: Jan Seidel and Rafael Foltyn (Germany)
Fourth official: Ovidiu Hategan (Romania)
VAR: Bastien Dankert (Germany)
(Left to right) Ovidiu Hategan, Rafael Foltyn, Daniel Siebert, Jan Seidel and Sebastian Gheorghe pose for a photograph ahead of this evening’s game. Photograph: Christopher Lee - UEFA/UEFA/Getty Images
Early team news
Having been sent off against Italy, Ethan Ampadu must sit out this game on the Uefa Naughty Step and is the only player unavailable for selection by Robert Page. Murmurings from the Wales camp suggest he may pick the same side that started their opening two games.
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand is without Christian Eriksen, who continues his recovery from cardiac arrest. The Danish coach has an otherwise full squad to choose from. His captain Simon Kjaer had been suffering from an unspecified knock but is expected to be available.
The Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam is the venue for the first of the Euro 2020 knockout games and it features two of this tournament’s most popular sides.
There seems to be a particularly keen Band of Brothers feel around both today’s squads, the players of Wales apparently having described themselves as a gang of friends on a (booze-free) stag do, while Denmark’s footballers made no shortage of new friends on the back of the dignity and togetherness with which they faced near tragedy in their opening game.
While this is Denmark’s first match away from the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, they as good as have home advantage because the famously sunlit uplands of Brexit mean Wales fans aren’t allowed to travel. Kick-off in Amsterdam is at 5pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
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