Thomas Delaney and Kasper Dolberg mustered the goals as Denmark edged past the Czech Republic to reach their first EURO semi-final since 1992 – when they went on to hoist the trophy.
Beaten 3-0 by the Czechs at this stage in 2004, Denmark quickly set the tone this time around. And it was Delaney who put them ahead inside five minutes, capitalising on slack defending to plant a powerful header past Tomáš Vaclík from a corner.
Minutes later, Jaroslav Šilhavý’s side were in trouble again, Vaclík needing to block a Mikkel Damsgaard effort before Delaney scuffed wide. However, despite that bright spell, the Danes still had to keep their wits about them, as Kasper Schmeichel was forced to scramble back and atone for a wayward pass by denying Tomáš Holeš’s subsequent shot.
As the half-time whistle loomed, Denmark doubled their advantage in style. This time, Joakim Mæhle’s exquisite outside-of-the-boot delivery swerved into the stride of Dolberg, who only had to connect to steer into the roof of the net.
The Czechs faced a daunting task at the break but rallied just four minutes after the restart. Their goal came from a familiar source too, Patrik Schick guiding in from Vladimír Coufal’s neat cross to become only the ninth player to net five times in a EURO final tournament – and revive his team’s hopes.
Denmark kept up their threat in an entertaining second half, and the game looked to be over when Mæhle latched onto Yussuf Poulsen’s through ball. Instead, Vaclík read the situation well to keep his side in the tie.
Tomáš Souček then went close late on as the Czech Republic chased their equaliser. It never came, and Kasper Hjulmand’s men dug in to claim their third consecutive victory and book a place in the Wembley semi-finals.
Post-Match Reaction
Kasper Hjulmand, Denmark coach: “It’s magical. The first thing I showed the boys when we met was a picture of Wembley, when we were there in the autumn. I said that we were going to come back. It was like we were playing in a Danish stadium because our dedicated fans came to support us in Baku. We’re deeply thankful.”
Thomas Delaney, Denmark midfielder: “It’s fantastic. The match didn’t develop as we had hoped, but we stood our ground. I couldn’t care less about how the match went – now it’s forgotten and we’re through.”
Simon Kjær, Denmark captain: “We had a goal before heading into this tournament, and that was to go back to Wembley. I’d be lying if I said that we’re OK with reaching the semis. We need to recover and then we have another match in four days.”
Vladimír Darida, Czech Republic captain: “We have nothing to be ashamed of. We put in good performances, showed fighting spirit and fought like the lions on our crest. That was obvious in today’s match too. It’s a pity we couldn’t equalise because I believe the game would have turned our way.”
Patrik Schick, Czech Republic forward: “We’re very disappointed – it all ends here for us. I think we did everything to succeed, but we didn’t have enough power to turn it in our favour in the final minutes.”
Tomáš Vaclík, Czech Republic goalkeeper: “Nobody believed in us, but we stuck together. There is a strong team spirit – we have something special in this team. As time passes by, I think we’ll only look back at positives in this tournament.”
