They will now play Denmark, back at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday night, for the right to reach the final of the tournament. Follow all the reaction from the Stadio Olimpico.
It’s fabulous. I suppose it’s still sinking in that it’s another semi-final - three in three years.
“We want to go two steps further. I know what will be happening at home. It’s lovely to see everyone on a Saturday night, beer in hand. They should enjoy it. It’s been a long year for everyone. I’m chuffed the two performances have brought so much happiness to people.
“We’ve known we had players we needed to look after physically. We’ve been able to introduce them. We know across seven games the squad is so important, trying to give people a breather at the right time. We learned a lot from Russia in that instance. We were trying to balance players with knocks and yellow cards. ‘Do we take the centre-back off? Because we’ve the game sown up he won’t need to make a tackle.’
“It’s fabulous for our country - a semi-final at Wembley. Everyone can really look forward to that - it’s brilliant.”
Luke Shaw delivers complete performance for England to finally earn credit he deserves
Maybe it was only right that before Jose Mourinho took charge at the Stadio Olympico that Luke Shaw christened it with one of his most complete performances:
The players have been fantastic. To play as well as they did in a game with so much resting on it was impressive.
“It’s a strange feeling. I’m thinking of the lads we didn’t get on the pitch - Conor Coady, Ben Chilwell, Sam Johnstone, Aaron Ramsdale, they’re the ones making this team successful. The spirit in the group is phenomenal.
“Whoever comes in does the job, wheoever isn’t in - it is really difficult to leave three out of the matchday squad - the squad mentality is fantastic. That’s uppermost in my mind, looking after those guys.
“I’m spending more energy worrying about the three I have to leave out because they’re all good players. None of them deserve to be left out. They’re all giving everything in training. None of it is because I don’t think they’re up to the level but we have to make the decisions. We have to make the right call for the right game with the right system. All of the players have been brilliant, tonight all the way through the group they’ve been fantastic.”
Jordan Henderson finally opened his account for England after 62 appearances for the Three Lions. After the game he told the BBC all about it:
“It was a very good night. It was a great start with the early goal then we grew from there, defended well and created great chances. But we can’t dwell too long. We’ve got a big game on Wednesday and we need to give absolutely everything.
“It’s about time [for me to score] to be honest! It’s been a long time coming. Thankfully I managed to get on the scoresheet. I’m just delighted for the lads because the performance was fantastic.
“I always try to contribute how I can and concentrate on my job on the pitch. That’s all I can concentrate on, but of course, I would have liked to have scored more goals. But I can’t complain, I’m here, I’ve contributed and got on the scoresheet which is nice.
“There are players that aren’t playing as much as they have liked but the lads who haven’t played as much have been outstanding. They have trained hard during the week, done extra work and been supporting lads in the changing rooms. It’s the best squad I’ve seen in terms of that in a tournament. It’s the biggest game of our lives on Wednesday to get into the final.
“We have always felt we are continuing to grow as a team and we feel we are ready to take the next step. Denmark are a tough side so we need to be at our very best if we want to go to the final but hopefully we can do that.”
England thrash Ukraine to reach Euro 2020 semi-finals
England finally offer that performance, to really justify that line. It was just one of the many magic little details on a perfect night that the thousands of supporters in Rome actually eschewed the obvious.
The song they sang the most was a favourite of the 1960s, as they now do look closer to the modern generation’s 1966 moment than ever before. “Que sera sera, we’re going to Wembley.”
They’re certainly going home for Euro 2020’s grand finale, as this fearsome 4-0 win over Ukraine really made it feel like they might end up bringing the Henri Delaunay trophy home with them:
Focus on Denmark: The team standing between England and the Euro 2020 final
Denmark stand in the way of England and a first major final since the 1966 World Cup.
The Danes made the semi-finals on a wave of emotion having seen midfield star Christian Eriksen collapse after suffering a cardiac arrest during their tournament opener against Finland in Copenhagen:
Harry Kane says England’s performance tonight was out of the top drawer and with four goals and another clean sheet it was the perfect way to reach the semi-final. He told the BBC:
“What a great performance in a big game.
“We were favourites, there was a lot of pressure and a lot of expectations. The performance was top-drawer. Another clean sheet, four goals, it was a perfect night for us.
“We’re building on [clean sheets]. We have a great unit here from front to back. It’s a vital part of winning games and tournaments.
“We’ve got a big semi-final coming up. We’re on the right path.
“It’s where we wanted to be. We set out a vision before the World Cup of what we want to achieve. We are knocking it off step by step. The World Cup was great but we fell short, we had a good run in the Nations League. We’re in another semi-final.
“Now it’s about getting over the line, the next step that we have got to do on Wednesday.
“We have more experience [than 2018]. We’ve been playing for our clubs in big games - Champions League finals, Premier League title races. We’re looking confident. Hopefully we can continue that.
“The job is not done yet. There’s a lot more football to play.
“It’s always nice to score early in a game. It’s a great feeling to help the team. There was a lot of talk about me and my performances. But I’m just ready for the next game and try to lead this team to the European final.”
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