Denmark have made a miraculous comeback to qualify for the round of 16 at the Euro 2020 after starting their campaign on a negative note. Kasper Schmeichel described his sentiments by the word “Euphoria” after their 4-1 win against Russia which sealed their fate.
Denmark were expected to battle it out with Russia for the second place in the group behind world number 1 side Belgium, but things did not go as planned in the tournament opener against Finland.
Christian Eriksen’s collapse saw the match suspended for a while and the Danish players were never going to be in the correct frame of mind to get a result after that. In their second match, they dominated Belgium for the majority of the game but Kevin de Bruyne’s class was just too good for them on the day and they lost 2-1.
On the final day of their group stage, Denmark were on 0 points while both Russia and Finland had already got to 3 points. It was always going to be tough for the Danes to qualify but they won the match by an emphatic margin of 4-1 to go through on goal difference.
” After the last 10-12 days that we’ve been through, it feels great to advance,” Schmeichel said. ” So much has happened, but now the Euros start in earnest for us. We have a chance to make this a really good tournament after a very, very difficult start.”
” I don’t think we could have done this without the support,” Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand said. ” It lifts the players, it lifts everything, and it just means so much to us.”
” We’ve been through so much in the time we’ve been together. We all agreed that this was not the last chapter in this story,” Denmark midfielder Christian Norgaard said. ” We must be allowed to enjoy the victory tonight and the feeling of moving on, after everything we have been through as a team. There was no doubt that this victory was also for Christian.”