Ukraine take on England in the UEFA EURO 2020 quarter-final in Rome on Saturday 3 July at 21:00 CET.
Ukraine vs England: click for live coverage
What’s the story?
Ukraine may be entering uncharted territory, but after a battling win over Sweden in the round of 16 they are unlikely to be fazed by a first EURO quarter-final appearance. Group stage defeats against the Netherlands and Austria are long since forgotten; this is a team riding high after Artem Dovbyk’s late strike in Glasgow proved they are a side that “can achieve our goals”, according to Oleksandr Zinchenko.Ukraine vs England: who will reach the semi-finals? ?UkraineEngland
England have become experts at thwarting other teams’ plans, however, and kept a fourth straight clean sheet in their last-16 triumph against Germany on Tuesday. Raheem Sterling scored his third goal of the tournament and Harry Kane opened his EURO 2020 account, suggesting the Three Lions have found the right balance. The prospect of a return to Wembley for the semi-finals and final is no little extra incentive for Gareth Southgate’s side.
Where to watch the game on TV
Fans can find their local UEFA EURO 2020 broadcast partner(s) here.Volume 0%00:0200:54 England’s 2012 winner against Ukraine
Predicted line-ups
Ukraine: Bushchan; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Kryvtsov, Matviyenko, Zinchenko; Sydorchuk, Stepanenko, Shaparenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk
Out: Besedin, Zubkov
Misses next match if booked: Dovbyk, Shaparenko, Sydorchuk, Yarmolenko
England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Henderson, Phillips; Foden, Mount, Sterling; Kane
Doubtful: Saka (knock)
Misses next match if booked: Foden, Maguire, Phillips, Rice
Reporters’ views
Bogdan Buga, Ukraine reporter: It will be a special night for Ukraine’s two best players at this EURO, West Ham’s Andriy Yarmolenko and Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko, and also for coach Andriy Shevchenko, who has had homes in Kyiv and London for many years. The former Chelsea striker said anything beyond the group stage “would be a bonus for Ukraine”, so they come to Rome triumphant already. The pressure is off; expect brave, unfettered football as they bid to make history again.Volume 0%00:0206:04 Stones looking forward to Rome challenge
Simon Hart, England reporter: After the energy and euphoria of Wembley and Tuesday’s victory over Germany, it’s the heat of Rome for England next as they bid to reach a first EURO semi-final since 1996. Expectations at home are now sky-high and Southgate believes it is “probably a good thing to be going away” as “it would’ve been very hard, three days later, to replicate that experience at Wembley”. Whether he replicates the back three employed against Germany is a moot point and changes of personnel seem likely.
View from the camps
Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine coach: “We have achieved our main goal already and everything else will be a bonus. Probably, there is a different pressure on England. They are seen as favourites but everyone perfectly knows that anything can happen in football.
We are preparing very seriously and we want to surprise England. We can see the great job done by Gareth Southgate. Beyond all doubt, they are one of the best teams at this moment. So we perfectly understand how strong our opponent is and how hard the game will be for us.”
Artem Dovbyk, Ukraine striker: “England are the strongest team not just in Europe but in the world as well. They have the best players from the best league. Only if we stick together and fight, we’ll be able to win the game against a team like England.”Volume 0% Ukraine team-mates quiz: Mykolenko & Karavaev
Gareth Southgate, England coach: “Ukraine are a good side. I’ve been really impressed with what Andriy’s done with them. They had a couple of sticky results through the autumn, through the Nations League but they’ve bounced back, and they got a very good result in France, in the World Cup qualifiers and again this week against Sweden. If we give them space to play, they’ll play, and they’ve got some dangerous forwards. We’ve achieved one challenge but that’s not the Everest we set ourselves. We want to push on.”
Harry Maguire, England defender: “We had a great night the other day but we have done nothing. We’re fully focused on the game against Ukraine. You’ve seen in this tournament that if you don’t perform to a high level, you lose your spot in the tournament. So, mentally we’ll be focused, we’ll be ready. Ukraine have got good principles. They like to play, build up. They’ve got a threat at the top end of the pitch with Yarmolenko so they’re a good team with a good structure.”
