Few Euro 2020 fans will forget Patrik Schick in hurry. Schick spotted the goalkeeper off his line and launched a looping shot from just inside the halfway line, to give his team a two-goal lead against Scotland in the European Championship opener for his side. The Bayer Leverkusen forward has been instrumental in his teams’ success in this event. Czech Republic Profile | Denmark Profile | News
The win against Scotland was followed by a 1-1 draw against Croatia. They lost 0-1 to England but did enough to sneak into the last 16 courtesy third place finish in Group D.
In Round of 16 they knocked out potential tournament winners Netherlands 2-0 to set up clash with Denmark. Denmark have been on a rollercoaster ride so far.
From almost losing their most famous player Christan Eriksen during their opening match against Finland to team regrouping and managing to find focus and qualify as the second placed team, the Danes have managed to surprise everyone with their resilience. They scored four against Russia to make it to round of 16 and then netted four against Wales to enter the quarterfinals.
Denmark will be favourites to win this tie but no one can question the fighting abilities of Czech Republic.
Czech Republic’s biggest win has come against Denmark whom they defeated 3-0 in the 2004 Euros.
ROAD TO FINAL:
Czech Republic
Group D: third place (Glasgow and London)
Round of 16: June 27, 2-0 vs Netherlands (Budapest),
Quarter-final: July 3 vs Denmark (Baku)
Semi-final: July 7 vs Ukraine/England (London)
Final: July 11 vs Belgium/ Italy/ Spain/ Switzerland (London)
Denmark
Group B: runners-up (Copenhagen)
Round of 16: June 26 4-0 vs Wales, (Amsterdam)
Quarter-final: July 3 vs Czech Republic (Baku)
Semi-final: July 7 vs Ukraine/ England (London)
Final: July 11 vs Belgium/ Italy/ Spain/ Switzerland (London)
KEY FACTS AND STATS
~ This is the third meeting between the Czech Republic and Denmark at the European Championship – the Czechs have won both previous games, 2-0 in the EURO 2000 group stages and 3-0 in the 2004 quarter-final.
~ Five of the last six matches between the Czech Republic and Denmark have ended as draws, including their most recent encounter in a November 2016 friendly.
~ With a 4-1 victory against Russia and a 4-0 victory against Wales, Denmark became the first team in European Championship history to score 4+ goals in consecutive games in the competition. They have nine goals so far at EURO 2020, only scoring more in a major tournament in the 1986 World Cup (10).
~ This is the Czech Republic’s fourth European Championship quarter-final, progressing from two of the previous three (1996 vs Portugal, 2004 vs Denmark) but failing the last time they reached this stage in 2012, losing 1-0 to Portugal.
~ Denmark are averaging 18.8 shots and 7.3 shots on target per game so far at EURO 2020. Both are their highest numbers on record at a single edition at a major tournament (since 1966 – World Cup and EURO).
~ Denmark have lost their last two quarter-final ties in major tournaments (World Cup/EUROs), going out against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup (2-3) and against Czech Republic in EURO 2004 (0-3).
~ Having scored with just one of their first 44 shots at EURO 2020 (2% conversion), Denmark have now scored with eight of their last 31 in the competition (26%).
~ Mikkel Damsgaard has been directly involved in seven goals in his six appearances for Denmark in all competitions, scoring three and assisting four. Damsgaard created more chances than any other Danish player in their 4-0 victory against Wales in the last round (3).
~ Patrik Schick has scored 15 goals in 30 appearances for the Czech Republic, netting four goals in four games at EURO 2020 so far. Only five players have scored 5+ goals in their first ever EURO tournament, most recently Antoine Griezmann in 2016 for France (six goals), while one of the other previous five was Schick’s compatriot Milan Baros at EURO 2004 (five). (with Inputs from Stats Perform)
Head-to Head: The two sides have met 11 times with Czech Republic winning three and Denmark winning two. Six matches have ended in draw
Match and telecast details
Match: 3rd quarter-final match between Czech Republic and Denmark
Date: July 3 (Saturday), 2020
Time: 9:30 PM IST
Venue: Baku Olympic Stadium - Baku
TV Channels: Sony Sports Network
Live Streaming: SonyLIV
Likely XIs
Czech Republic: Tomas Vaclik; Vladimir Coufal, Ondrej Celustka, Tomas Kalas, Pavel Kaderabek; Tomas Holes, Tomas Soucek; Lukas Masopust, Antonin Barak, Petr Sevcik; Patrik Schick
Denmark: Kasper Schmeichel; Andreas Christensen, Simon Kjaer, Jannik Vestergaard; Daniel Wass, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Thomas Delaney, Joakim Maehle; Martin Braithwaite, Kasper Dolberg, Mikkel Damsgaard
