That concludes the blog for the day as the football action will on us soon enough. Thanks for reading.

A rerun through the day’s stories.

Before England’s dreaming can begin, there’s another game to be played in Baku, and Barry Glendenning is building up to it.

Mary Waltz is in touch: “Emma Raducanu, 18 year old Brit into the round of 16 at Wimbledon. A good omen for the England footballers?” It may well be; she was brilliant.

Andy Lynam, an England fan, is in Rome: “I’m in Rome too, having made an unwise 2am drunken visits to a secondary ticketing site, after the Germany game. I live in Zurich. Drove down Thursday. In my Rome hotel there are Brits living in Sweden, Austria and Poland. All quite jolly. Heard plenty of English accents in Central Rome today too so expect to see a reasonable turnout.”

More from Lars in Denmark: “Hi again, John. Just an early match report from Copenhagen, where tensions are brewing more than two hours before kickoff. Czech beer sold out, streets full of people in the national teams colours, Danish flags - “Dannebrog” - hanging out the windows and the old 1986-World Cup battlesong “Re-Sepp-Ten” blasting from cars everywhere. It’s 50/50 for me - as it was before the Wales-game. Hope I am exactly as wrong as I was a week ago!”

Jimmy Maloney: “With the only travelling English fans coming from places in continental Europe, I’m looking forward to the reaction to the English flags in the stadium reading ‘Helmstedt’, ‘Bremen’ ‘Brussels’ etc.”

Yes, Skipton, Paignton, Kettering and Chelmsford will be missed.

A gathering of the English tribes from all over the EU.

Some fans have managed to get tickets for the game as they live outside of the UK. Luke Curner, originally from Folkestone, Kent, was able to avoid isolation as he travelled from Helmstedt, Germany, where he lives with his wife and children. The 36-year-old bought tickets for the match in 2019 as it falls on his birthday weekend and said: “I feel very privileged to be here, I’m usually on the wrong end of these kind of situations.”

Jack Francis, 20, from Southampton, travelled to Rome from France and said he feels “lucky” to be able to go. “It feels very surreal, and hopefully it will be a memorable game which will be talked about for years to come if we go all the way,” he added.

Few doubts over the smoothest operator at Euro 2020. Glory is in sight.

At least it’s not Wonderwall.

Rick Harris gets in touch: “Looks to me like Southgate has perhaps decided he can use tonight’s game to give valuable playing time to others in the squad if the rumoured starting place for Sancho is true. Surely it would be an even better idea to put Dortmund club mate Jude Bellingham in the team as well and leave out Rice or Phillips – both of who looked leggy against Germany and could do with a rest?

“Henderson and Bellingham as the ‘double pivot’ gives England greater forward passing ability than the pair used so far. I see Bellingham as the future of English international football and quite why Southgate is reluctant to play him is a mystery.”

Experimentalism in a Euros quarter-final? Southgate is no Guardiola. Sancho for Saka looks like for like to these jaundiced eyes.

David Wall revives Points of View: “I don’t know about anyone else, but i’m pleased that England - Ukraine is on BBC rather than ITV. They have a natural assuredness that allows them to take it seriously while recognising that it’s really just a game. ITV are far too earnest. Could you imagine Mark Pougatch teasing Roy Keane in the way that Lineker takes a hand out of Shearer at every opportunity? And ITV really don’t make the most of their assets. As your colleague Michael Butler wrote earlier in the week, Emma Hayes has been the break-out star among pundits. But she’s only been given the games that ITV expect fewer people to watch, and i wonder if we’ll hear from her again this tournament. In contrast, the Beeb realised long ago that they’re on to a winner with the charming Jurgen Klinsmann when they first hired him a few competitions ago, and seem keen to involve him as much as possible despite Germany going out.”

Club news, Tottenham club news, in fact. Per PA Media.

Nuno Espirito Santo has filled out his Tottenham backroom staff with some familiar faces as Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias have joined the club.

All three worked with Nuno at Wolves until the end of last season, and have a longer association with the Portuguese dating back to his previous clubs.

Cathro, who was briefly head coach at Hearts after working with Nuno at Rio Ave and Valencia, will serve as assistant head coach.

Barbosa and Dias join in identical roles to those they held at Wolves - with the former to work as goalkeeping coach and the latter the fitness coach.

Nuno was confirmed as the new Tottenham boss on Wednesday, signing a deal until 2023, as the long-term successor to Jose Mourinho. After a spell in interim charge of the first team following Mourinho’s exit, Ryan Mason has returned to his academy role as head of player development.

What a cameo that was last night; he did almost set up a goal.

Hypocrisy watch. Some discussion that seats were not filled, even in those stadia with reduced capacity. And that comes as little surprise considering the economic conditions the tournament is being played in.

Lars Bøgegaard gets in touch: Greetings from Copenhagen This must be an omen: Just like the Danish players were at the beach before being called to win the Euro 1992, Christian Eriksen enjoyed the white sands at Tisvildeleje, Denmark, on Friday.
Here Eriksen met 11 year old Bjørn Bindzus whose mother documented it. The text on the Instagram post says: “Lucky me and the world’s most mentioned man”.

Pertinent thread from the New York Times’ Tariq Panja.

And that’s all from me - I will hand over to the estimable John Brewin to guide you through this afternoon’s Euros excitement.

“I would have thought it would make sense to rest one of Phillips or Rice to avoid losing both for a potential semi final,” comments jayaess. “We have Henderson there as a perfect replacement. Losing one is fine but both would be more painful.”

Well, Southgate has explicitly stated that he is only focused on winning this match and will not consider leaving players out purely to guarantee their availability for a potential semi-final. And that is surely the right approach. Nothing would scream ENGLISH ARROGANCE more than resting players who have contributed so much to the progress thus far.

One thing I noticed during England’s match against Germany is how much space there was in the middle of the park: Leon Goretzka charged through for Germany in the early minutes, leading to that booking for Declan Rice, when England were lucky not to concede a penalty and maybe even worse, a red card. Thomas Müller did likewise when he missed that chance to level it with the score at 1-0. And Raheem Sterling’s run to create and then score the opener was straight down the middle, too. Amid all this talk of the wide players being the key (especially in view of the importance of Gosens and Kimmich for Germany) it was notable how many of the key moments unfolded down the middle.

“I like starting with Sancho,” comments JohnBarnesOnToast.

“It signals a positive intent and gets fresh legs on to the pitch. And in some ways it’s a more pragmatic way of taking a look at him than bringing him off the bench. If for some reason he doesn’t work he can be taken off for a more tried and trusted option - it would be bigger risk looking to introduce him into a situation where you were chasing the game and asking his first contribution in the tournament to be a game-changing one.”

It’s a big night for Sancho - so soon after his mega-money move to Manchester United was confirmed - and that’s a good point about the potential pitfalls of bringing him off the bench with the game in the balance.

“Every player goes through periods of ups and downs,” Harry Maguire said. “That’s where you really show your character to overcome that period and that’s something I’m really proud of within myself. When you play for Manchester United every bad game you have is made into a real bad period of form ...

“It’s about how you deal with it, how you bounce back. First and foremost you work hard off the pitch and you take that on to the pitch and that gives you confidence to go and play well.”

More here from Jacob Steinberg, one of our reporters in Rome for England’s showdown with Ukraine:

“Can anyone remember the World Cup in 1990,” asks Guardian_Rick in the comments. Yes, we can!

“One thing it wasn’t was a celebration of 10 years of Thatcher,” he adds. “Plus she was gone a few months after. Likewise John Major in 1996. I really think many people can’t understand that supporting the English football team does not equate to supporting the current UK Government.”

Certainly, cheering for England in these Euros doesn’t automatically mean you’re getting behind Boris and his Barmy Brexit. But since the vote in 2016 the political and social climate has, alas, been different and more unpleasant. Very different to back in 1990, and a tournament that felt like a celebration of European-ness. I can simultaneously feel uncomfortable with some of the behaviour of England fans, and some of the people who associate English success with English nationalism, and at the same time be pleased for the team, for Southgate, and for all the more enlightened and sensible supporters.

I do remember seeing the fan with ‘Brexit’ on the back of his England shirt in the stadium for the match against Iceland in 2016 and being delighted that England ended up losing, but the emotions were running higher back then.

“I’m going to be controversial now and say that I’m really enjoying the Euros and I think England have played really well,” comments Paulomaroc.

“Most controversially of all, I’m going to say that the teams England have beaten weren’t shit. I know! I know! I know that modern fans are supposed to think every team England beat are shit, but I disagree.”

A fair assessment, I think.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has stated he and his Ukraine teammates will have to play the “game of our lives” to knock out England in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals. The 24-year-old is conscious that Gareth Southgate’s side are strong favourites to progress on Saturday in Rome but is clear Ukraine believe they can win.

Euro 2020 Football Daily klaxon!

Dropping late last night - Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Simon Burnton to discuss Switzerland v Spain and Belgium v Italy:

The Ukrainian community in the UK is gearing up for tonight’s quarter-final, reports Amelia Hill, with cabbage rolls and vodka at the ready:

“This match has made a lot of Ukrainians remember what their country and culture are, and realise that they can feel proud of it,” he said. “It’s one of those rare moments when Ukraine is in the news and Ukrainians get a chance to say to the outside world: ‘Hey look, we’re a real country with something to be proud of.’”

Ukraine and England meet in Rome tonight - but it was all about the Azzurri in the Italian capital last night, as is only right.

“Going into England’s quarter-final against Ukraine, Jordan Pickford is the only goalkeeper yet to have conceded a goal (with the exception of Italy’s Salvatore Sirigu, who made a ceremonial two-minute appearance against Wales).”

Via Reuters: a bit of Belgian reaction after last night’s 2-1 defeat by Italy:

Kevin de Bruyne: “We had opportunities. After the break, possession was still in their favour, but we were better. Yes, there will be people angry and disappointed, but the supporters will have seen that we wanted to give everything.”

“It was two very good teams in this knockout stage, and the margins went to them,” said the coach Roberto Martínez. “The feelings are sadness and disappointment because I don’t feel like these players need to be out of this tournament. The players did everything they could to get as far as we could.”

“There is no question he is a prodigy, but let’s not put too much pressure on him.” (Claudio Ranieri)

Marcus Christenson here, on Denmark’s dynamic youngster Mikkel Damsgaard:

Speaking of Czech Republic, Patrik Schick’s goal against Scotland isn’t going to be bettered at this tournament, is it?

Enough about England, I hear you cry. What about Czech Republic v Denmark, which kicks off in Baku at 5pm UK time?

Lukas Vrablik reports on the Czech Republic’s progress into the last eight. A tornado in Moravia caused carnage a few days ago, leaving five people dead:

“After the victory against the Netherlands, the Czech players made a financial contribution for the people in Moravia and sent a message of support from the dressing room. “This victory is for you. We are thankful to the people who help there and we wish all the best to those affected,” the goalkeeper Tomas Koubek tweeted.”

“I remember sitting down with him and from day one it was clear I was working with a player who had huge ambitions and a lot of courage ... I asked him the question: ‘What do you want to do?’ And at 13 years of age he looked me dead in the eye and said: ‘I want to represent England and make my family proud of me.”

And here is our news story on Sancho’s transfer to Manchester United, which was finally wrapped up this week, by Fabrizio Romano and Jamie Jackson:

“An emotional literacy and a willingness to take on challenges outside football has been developed by the manager Gareth Southgate. “He encourages the players to step beyond their roles as footballers and not see it as a distraction but something that helps their game,” says John Mousinho, new chair of the players’ union, the PFA.”

A good news story here about Gareth Southgate’s new, enlightened England - by Paul MacInnes:

An email from Alexander Pirie, on potential pandemic-related complications for ticket-holding/UK resident fans in Rome tonight:

“As an Englishman who’s been staying in Italy with family for the past two months, it looks like there’s a very real possibility that they will not let me into the stadium today as I arrived before the ‘test-to-release’ and do not have proof of EU residency. The latter being a rule which has only just been announced by Uefa this morning via the ticketing app. It seems that there will be quite a few who have fallen through the policy cracks and will be at the mercy of UEFA marshals when arriving at the stadium. What a mess this whole thing is!”

Word in Rome is that Jadon Sancho makes his first start of the tournament when England face Ukraine tonight.

Copa América newsflash!

I don’t think Gabriel Jesus can have any complaints in receiving a carta roja for this:

As David Hytner wrote last night, Mason Mount seems to be in line for a recall against Ukraine, and there is talk of Jadon Sancho also getting a game.

England have an embarrassment of riches in attack considering the likes of Sancho has been kept in reserve until this point of the tournament. On top of the talent England clearly possess, Southgate (much like Mancini with Italy) has made playing for England fun again, which I’d say is a big reason for their run to the World Cup semi-final in 2018 and their encouraging run at these Euros.

“The thought that we can be resting players to get through to a semi-final … I can’t think of a nation that would do that,” said Southgate. “I have never seen it happen and it is not in our thinking. It would be a bad message for our players and it would be the wrong message for Ukraine. I don’t think we can fiddle around.”

Our chief football correspondent, David Hytner, reports from Rome on England’s build-up to the big one against Ukraine:

“It’s a shame that I can’t support England in the tournament,” comments bluebirds. “The England team are a likeable bunch, multi-cultural, vibrant and supporters of social justice issues. Both the team and manager are supporters of anti-discrimination. The fans on the other hand have demonstrated their knuckle-headed yobbery again. Booing their own team taking the knee. Booing the opposition’s national anthem. Cheering the sight of a little German girl crying ... Johnson is already on the bandwagon. This will be painted as a Brexit Britain win.”

I don’t disagree with any of that, the behaviour of some of the England fans has been very poor, particularly around the Germany game. On the other hand, should it stop the fans who don’t behave in that way from enjoying England’s run? I think the answer is no, it should not, even if it makes it more difficult.

Important question: what’s taken Ukraine to the quarter-finals? Jonathan Wilson takes a look:

“Our principles,” Shevchenko explained, “are compactness, balance between attack and defence, playing through short- and medium-range passes. We want to control the ball.”

Via Reuters, some quotes from goalscorer Lorenzo Insigne on Roberto Mancini’s fun house:

“I’m really having a lot of fun. I’ve never played with such a big smile on my face, it’s like playing with my mates back home when I play during the week,” Insigne said. “The head coach deserves credit for that because he really has allowed us to produce our best football. And everyone, myself included, is really playing with a smile on their faces. And that’s our secret. I’m very pleased for the team as a whole because we’re proving that we’re a great squad and the head coach deserves a lot of credit for that. We simply need to kick on because we haven’t achieved anything yet. We still have plenty to do. We need to kick on ... we haven’t achieved anything yet. We need to put in this last effort, keep our head down and graft.”

“Ukraine looked like a good side in the one match I’ve watched them play this tournament (vs. Sweden),” comments maysha. “Compact at the back, decent keeper, variety in attack. All their players look technically sound. Dangerous in transition, good width in their attacking play. I think this is going to be a tough match for England.”

“To paraphrase Walter from ‘The Big Lebowski’, the Sassenachs could be about to enter a world of Ukraine-pain,” adds RawSharkTest.

Theoretical question: A ball bounces up in England’s penalty area during the match tonight: Roman Yaremchuk and Harry Maguire contest a full-blooded 50-50 challenge and crash into each other at full pelt. Who comes off worse?

The downside of Italy’s win against Belgium last night was Leonardo Spinazzola’s injury - which it turns out is a torn achilles tendon. A sad way for his tournament to end, although he will have been cheered by his teammates singing for him on the flight home, while testing the structural integrity of the aircraft:

The fact that Spinazzola, the marauding Roma wing-back, has been one of the biggest hits of the tournament backs up Barney’s piece below about the notable lack of celebrity players at Euro 2020.

Meanwhile, here’s a tweet from Fabrizio Romano confirming the nature of Spinazzola’s injury:

Here’s a thoughtful piece by Barney Ronay to enjoy over your tea and toast / soy latte and croissant (delete as applicable).

Where have all the stars gone at Euro 2020?

“In a Euro 2016 Roy Hodgson and Ray Lewington throwback, can you confirm that Gareth Southgate and Steve Holland have actually spent the day sightseeing in Rome; Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, The Colosseum because ‘Steve has never been to Rome before’?” asks Sean Boiling on email.

It’s a good thought, Sean. Mind you - we all know the one about Brian Clough offering his Nottingham Forest players a crate of beer on the bus to Anfield before a European Cup tie. Sometimes as a manager, taking your foot off the gas at just the right moment can work wonders. Not that Gareth will be offering any beers around in Rome, I’m sure.

“Re Italian cheating, theatrics and time wasting - it’s one thing doing it in an empty German stadium, but it’s totally another when doing it in front of 60 odd thousand fans v England at Wembley,” comments Borucs.

“Yes it will be even better,” replies Dejowhddnk.

“I think you’ll find they’re playing Spain next,” points out LouisLou.

This is great banter, it really is! Don’t forget, you can email me or send me a tweet @lukemclaughlin if you have any Euros-related musings. Do get in touch.

All roads lead to Rome.

An image that popped up in my photo library from last Tuesday: A sign in a Hamburg market advertising fish and chips, on the day of the big England v Germany match: “Today we eat England.”

I wonder if food stalls in Ukraine are indulging in similar Euros banter before today’s meeting?

Sid Lowe reports on Unai Simón’s redemption: the Spain goalie made that embarrassing howler against Croatia in the last 16, allowing a backpass to roll gently into his own net. Now he’s the hero after saving penalties from Fabian Schar and Manuel Akanji in a shoot-out with Switzerland:

Spain’s build-up to the tournament was far from ideal - a Covid-19 positive in the camp sent the players into isolation, with a team of Under-21s called up as emergency cover to fulfil one of their warm-up matches. “Not ideal but no excuse,” was Luis Enrique’s verdict on their preparations for a group including Poland, Slovakia and Sweden.

No excuse indeed: here they are, in the semi-finals:

“You could accuse him of being too predictable, but like Arjen Robben in his prime, Lorenzo Insigne has learned that it does not matter if defenders know what dance you’re doing if they still cannot match your steps.”

Nicky Bandini writes about the Napoli forward, whose wonderful curling finish proved to be the winner for the Azzurri against Belgium last night:

Before we tuck into previewing today’s matches, let’s take a moment to consider last night. Italy were back to their sublime best against Belgium, attacking and defending as a unit, scoring a couple of superb goals, and rounding it off with a bit of textbook time-wasting at the end. Jonathan Wilson reports: