England to play Ukraine in Euro 2020 quarter-finals after impressive Germany victory

Posted Thursday, July 01, 2021 by Express.co.uk

Gareth Southgate's side have earned a tie against Ukraine at the Stadio Olimpico this weekend.

England will face Ukraine in the quarter finals of Euro 2020 on Saturday following their dramatic 2-0 win over Germany on Tuesday. Gareth Southgate’s side will play at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico in an 8pm kick-off after Ukraine beat Sweden 2-1 at Hampden Park in the last 16.

After four successive games at Wembley Stadium, England will travel to Italy’s capital later this week for their second knock-out tie.

Goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane were enough to see off Germany, with Jordan Pickford keeping a fourth straight clean sheet.

Pickford kept out Timo Werner and Kai Havertz before the hosts took the lead through Sterling’s close-range finish from Luke Shaw’s low cross.

Thomas Muller spurned a brilliant opening one-on-one with Pickford after Sterling gave the ball away and was made to pay when Kane headed in Jack Grealish’s cross.

Victory saw England move to 2/1 favourites with the bookies to win the tournament, with confidence now high ahead of a tie against Ukraine, who needed extra-time to get past Sweden.

England to play Ukraine in Euro 2020 quarter-finals after impressive Germany victory
Southgate was vindicated by his selection decisions at Wembley (Image: GETTY)

Andriy Shevchenko’s side joined England, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark and the Czech Republic in the last eight after an entertaining end-to-end match at Glasgow’s Hampden Park.

Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko gave Ukraine the lead when he smashed a powerful finish past Robin Olsen from Andriy Yarmolenko’s outside-of-the-boot cross.

Their lead did not last long, however, with Emil Forsberg equalising thanks to a fortuitous deflection on his long distance effort before the break.

Sebastian Larsson went close for Sweden before Serhiy Sydorchuk and Forsberg struck the woodwork in quick succession.

Dejan Kulusevski drew a good save out of Ukraine’s Heorhiy Bushchan before Forsberg smashed the bar with another close attempt.

Sweden’s Marcus Danielson was sent off in extra-time for a horror challenge as both sides laboured in the final 30 minutes in Glasgow.

England to play Ukraine in Euro 2020 quarter-finals after impressive Germany victory
Artem Dovbyk's first goal for Ukraine sent them through to face England (Image: GETTY)

But, with penalties looming, substitute Artem Dovbyk headed in Zinchenko’s pinpoint cross in the 121st minute to dump 10-man Sweden out and set up a tie with Southgate’s side.

If England beat Ukraine then they will face the winner of Denmark vs Czech Republic at Wembley in the semi-finals on Wednesday, July 7.

And Alan Shearer believes that the draw gives England a good chance of going all the way to the final on Sunday, July 11.

"If you could’ve picked something like that you would have,” Shearer said on the BBC. “There’s a lot of talk, we can’t finish top because you may play France or Portugal but you’ve got to see.

"They’ve beaten Germany in an impressive way, the draw is decent. England will never ever have a better opportunity than this one now.

"If they were to get to the final it would’ve been six games at Wembley and you can’t ask for anymore than that.”