Euro 2024: Germany v Denmark, last 16 – live | Euro 2024

The players haven’t gone back down the tunnel. They’re all congregated around the dugouts. According to ITV referee expert Christina Unkel, “one of the biggest things to determine is how far it is, a general rule of thumb is ten miles is typically a 30-minute delay … but here at the Euros that decision is made internally between the referee and an appointed individual.”

36 min: … so with large forks of thunder crashing directly above the Westfalenstadion, referee Michael Oliver stops the game and takes the players off.

34 min: A little bit of space for Havertz on the edge of the Danish D. It quickly closes down. Then a huge clap of thunder. This is Wagnerian.

32 min: The rain is now coming down in stair rods. More lightning. Meanwhile Musiala tries to release Gündoğan down the inside-left channel but Andersen reads the danger and intercepts well.

31 min: Eriksen, like Kroos before him, slaps an uncharacteristically witless free kick straight into the wall.

30 min: Bah in some space down the right. He crosses low and hard. Mæhle picks up possession on the left and strides across the face of the box. Andrich blocks him in the agricultural style inside the D. Now that’s a block. It’s not a booking, which it probably should be. It’s a real chance for Eriksen, though.

28 min: An ominous rumble from the heavens. A couple of flashes of lightning. A strong possibility of some meteorological misadventures tonight.

26 min: A break in play as Christensen and Havertz bang heads. Time for Julian Nagelsmann to get busy on the sideline and issue Jamal Musiala with some beneficial tactical advice. Thankfully both players recover and we go again.

24 min: Eriksen busies himself down the inside-left channel. The ball ricochets through to Mæhle, who spins in the box before larruping a wild effort miles over the bar. He should have done better. Denmark getting right into this game now, after their slow start.

23 min: Denmark enjoy some sterile possession. They’ve successfully managed to take a little of the wind out of the German sail. Speaking of which … “Having successfully peed Jurgen Klopp right off, Michael Oliver must have got bored alienating Germans one at a time and decided to do the whole lot in one go,” suggests Matt Hockey. “Very efficient, in fairness.”

21 min: A long Danish hoof down the middle. Eriksen takes it down adroitly, nearly wrong-footing Rudiger, who nonetheless still manages to block the eventual shot out for a corner. Nothing comes from the set piece, but this is better from Denmark, and Eriksen in particular.

20 min: Højbjerg spins into a little space down the middle and shuttles the ball towards Eriksen to his left. Eriksen then slips Mæhle in along the wing, but instead of bombing forward, Mæhle knocks the ball straight back to Eriksen, who has no space and doesn’t want it. End of a promising move, but the first time Denmark have showed up in Germany’s half.

18 min: Rudiger elegantly shovels (if that doesn’t sound contradictory) a pass down the right to release Havertz into space. Vestergaard does a good job in coming across and forcing his opponent to turn tail. Germany are playing some nice stuff here.

16 min: Kroos slaps the free kick straight into the wall, Vestergaard bravely taking one flush in the coupon.

15 min: Eriksen swings a free kick from the left flank into the Germany box. But it’s dealt with by Havertz. Germany counter, and Sane’s run is brought to an unceremonious halt, 25 yards out, just a smidgen left of centre. Kroos’s eyes light up.

13 min: Musiala drags a shot wide left from distance. It’s all Germany. Anyway, that Kimmich block and the chalked-off goal. Michael Oliver has already jumped through hoops to disallow what appeared to be a good Netherlands goal against France, and now this. Christina Unkel, ITV’s referee analyst, doesn’t think the decision was a clear and obvious error, so VAR couldn’t intervene, but that’s hardly a ringing endorsement. You can make a case for penalising Kimmich, but the contact was soft, the decision generous.

11 min: From the corner, Andrich powers a header straight at Schmeichel. Denmark aren’t dealing with these German corners at all.

10 min: Rudiger, quarterbacking in the centre circle, floats a long diagonal towards Havertz, bursting into the Danish box down the left. Havertz meets the dropping ball with a low volley across Schmeichel. It’s heading into the bottom right. Schmeichel manages to turn it around the post, but not particularly convincingly.

8 min: Denmark deal with the second corner.

7 min: Schlotterbeck, also perhaps fuelled by righteous rage, leaps highest as the corner comes in, and aims a looping header towards the top right. It may be going wide, but Schmeichel can’t take any chances. He claws that one around the post too for another corner.

6 min: Kimmich, perhaps fuelled by righteous rage, sends a rising, rasping drive towards the top-right corner from 25 yards. Schmeichel is forced to turn around the post for a corner on the right.

NO GOAL! Germany 0-0 Denmark

GOAL! Germany 1-0 Denmark (Schlotterbeck 4)

3 min: It’s a fast start, with Germany on the front foot and Denmark holding their shape, pressing hard. A right-to-left crossfield ball is misjudged by Bah, allowing Raum to stride into the box. Bah recovers and blocks the resulting cross for a corner. From which …

1 min: A very early run for Sane down the right. He digs out a cross but can’t find anyone in white. “I don’t see how Denmark can fail to progress from this match,” announces Jacob Hammer. “No team enjoys the role as underdogs more than we do and now we might play Germany, Spain, and France on our way to the final. Clearly this is how Kasper Hjulmand planned it. My only worry is that we might face Slovakia in the final (sorry England), be favourites, and get thrashed.”

Germany get the ball rolling. It’s hot and humid in Dortmund, and there’s a hurricane warning for later. Hopefully this will be done and dusted before the wind picks up. “I’m in Frankfurt, where I was hoping to see Scotland play on Monday night,” begins Simon McMahon. “That ain’t happening, so I’m supporting Germany tonight, though the fan zone here is closed due to bad weather, so it’s almost like home. A local hostelry then, maybe a beer or two, some mince and tatties. Come on Scotland Germany!”

The teams are out! It’s the Westfalenstadion, so of course there’s a hell of an atmosphere. The Yellow Wall is more white and black today, though. A sea of red at the other end. Both teams reflecting all of that by wearing their first-choice colours. Coins are about to be tossed, pennants swapped, fists bumped, and anthems sung, paeans to unity and justice and freedom, and a lovely country with broad beech trees. “Danish Dynamite! I read it!” exclaims Joe Pearson. “It’s great! Do Rob, Lars and Mike a solid and buy a copy!” Joe speaks for me. We’ll be off in a few minutes!

Correspondence from Copenhagen. “My Danish compatriots are at full hubris throttle in Dortmund chanting ‘Deutschland, Deutschland, alles ist vorbei’ [‘Germany, Germany, it’s all over’] to the tune of Yellow Submarine,” begins Lars Bøgegaard. “That’s a throwback to the triumph at Euro 92, where the players led the choir from the balcony of the town hall in Copenhagen upon returning from Sweden with the trophy. Perhaps it’s not such a good idea reminding the German players of that seismic loss: better surprise them once more!”

Pennant Watch™. Welcome to the latest edition of the occasional feature that only runs when your MBM hack has run out of things to say and is reduced to desperate vamping. That’s happened even earlier than usual today, but we’ve got time to kill, so let’s plough on. I’ve not been able to find a good photo of the pennant İlkay Gündoğan will be handing over today, so here’s the one he gave to Andrew Robertson before the opening game, which Scotland’s proud, proactive and pulsating team memorably won 6-0 [subs please check]. It’s lovely, isn’t it? Even this pitiful shot, framing it as though it was the last unwanted item on the clearance rail at TK Maxx, can’t strip it of its grandeur. A gorgeous tricolour, lush gold tassels, and a logo that still screams modernity despite being designed in 1926. A beauty. Zehn!

Denmark’s effort, not so much. All a bit half-hearted. It scores ten as well, but only on our patented Will-This-Do-o-meter™. But it doesn’t matter. The DBU get a pass for all time for the mid-80s Danish Dynamite shirt. They’re in aesthetic credit for ever.

Here’s how both teams concluded the group stage. Are these games worth reliving? On the face of it, not really, no. But who’ll be telling the stories? Rob Smyth and John Brewin, that’s who! So click through and let them take you on a journey of retro wonder, all the way back to earlier this week, when we were all younger and a whole world of possibility stretched out ahead of us.

Pre-match scene-setting. Courtesy of our man in Berlin, Jonathan Liew.

Germany make three changes to their starting XI from the 1-1 draw with quarter-finalists Switzerland. David Raum and Nico Schlotterbeck come in at the back for Maximilian Mittelstädt and the suspended Jonathan Tah, while Leroy Sané replaces Florian Wirtz in attack. Schlotterbeck lines up in the centre of defence alongside Antonio Rüdiger, who had been a fitness doubt. Niclas Füllkrug, with two goals in three games from the bench, must once again make do with the role of supersub.

Denmark make two changes to their XI after the goalless draw with Serbia. Andreas Skov Olsen and Thomas Delaney come in for Jonas Wind and the suspended Morten Hjulmand. Christian Eriksen has recovered from illness to keep his place in midfield. Rasmus Højlund also holds onto his shirt, despite not yet finding the net at Euro 2024.

The teams

Preamble