Kevin De Bruyne announced his arrival at Euro 2020 in style as he came off the bench to fire Belgium into the last 16 with victory over Denmark.
On a night when the players of both teams celebrated Christian Eriksen’s continuing recovery from a cardiac arrest, the Manchester City midfielder, playing for the first time since suffering facial fractures in the Champions League final, set up Thorgan Hazard’s 55th-minute equaliser and then thumped home the winner 20 minutes from time.
Denmark had got off to the perfect start on an emotional night in Copenhagen when Yussuf Poulsen gave them a second-minute lead, but De Bruyne’s introduction shook the Belgians out of their first-half lethargy to maintain a perfect start to their Group B campaign.
Stunning 😍 Kevin De Bruyne gives Belgium the lead!#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/j943Rt1V5H — UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 17, 2021
They will be joined in the knockout stages by Holland, who secured top spot in Group C with a comfortable 2-0 win over Austria.
Mephis Depay’s early penalty and a second from Denzel Dumfries after the break were enough to give Frank De Boer’s men the three points.
Goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk kept alive Ukraine’s hopes of making it to the last 16 courtesy of a 2-1 Group C win over North Macedonia.
Andriy Shevchenko’s men led 2-0 at the break in Bucharest and although Ezgjan Alioski pulled a goal back, converting the rebound after his penalty had been saved, Ruslan Malinovsky later passed up a chance to cement the win when he missed from the spot.
Post of the day
Et stort øjeblik i Parken her til aften.#ForDanmark #EURO2020 #DEN #DENBELpic.twitter.com/j2R6HO6ytH
— DBU – En Del Af Noget Større (@DBUfodbold) June 17, 2021
Dutch masters
Quote of the day
Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand sends a message to midfielder Christian Eriksen as he continues his recovery from a cardiac arrest.
Spot of bother
🇲🇰 First goal at a major tournament for EzgjanAlioski ⚽️#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/UmoWLL78Jv
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 17, 2021
North Macedonia’s Alioski acrobatically fired home the rebound after Ukraine keeper Georgiy Bushchan had denied him from 12 yards, but at the other end, Malinovsky was not given a second chance by Stole Dimitrievski.
Stat attack
🦁 Memphis Depay has been directly involved in 49 goals in 66 Netherlands appearances (27 goals, 22 assists) 🔥🔥🔥#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/sjHTVshT4k
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 17, 2021
Depay scored his first goal of the tournament to continue his impressive attacking record in a Holland shirt.
Up next
June 18
Sweden v Slovakia (Group E, St Petersburg, 1400)
Croatia v Czech Republic (Group D, Glasgow, 1700)
England v Scotland (Group D, London, 2000)
Italy
Wales
Switzerland
Turkey
