Russia vs Denmark: UEFA EURO 2020 match background, facts and stats

Russia will hope for a repeat of their only previous fixture against Denmark as two of the UEFA EURO 2020 hosts bring down the curtain on their respective Group B campaigns at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen.

• Beaten 3-0 by Belgium in Saint Petersburg on Matchday 1, Russia got their campaign back on track with a 1-0 defeat of Finland at the same venue in the second round of matches. Denmark have lost both games so far, against Finland (0-1) in a game that featured a medical emergency involving Christian Eriksen and Belgium (1-2), Yussuf Poulsen giving them the lead in the latter fixture after 99 seconds, the second fastest goal in EURO finals history.

• That means Russia will be through with a win, or a draw if Finland fail to beat Denmark in the other Group B game on Matchday 3. Denmark will finish in the top two if they beat Russia by two or more goals and Finland lose against Belgium.

Previous meetings

• The only past contest between these teams came in a Copenhagen friendly on 29 February 2012. First-half goals from Roman Shirokov (4) and Andrey Arshavin (45) gave Dick Advocaat's Russia a 2-0 win at Parken against a Denmark side coached by Morten Olsen.

• The Soviet Union boasted a dominant record against Denmark, winning eight of the teams' ten contests and losing only one. Those victories included a 3-0 defeat of the Danes in their only EURO fixture, in the 1964 semi-final in Barcelona thanks to goals from Valeri Voronin, Viktor Ponedelnik and Valentin Ivanov.

• The USSR won three of the sides' four meetings in FIFA World Cup qualifying, recording a 6-0 win in Moscow and 3-1 success in Copenhagen in the 1966 preliminaries before a 1-0 victory, again in Moscow, ahead of the 1986 tournament. Denmark's sole success against the Soviet Union was a momentous 4-2 triumph in Copenhagen in 1986 World Cup qualifying, both sides going on to reach the finals in Mexico.

• Denmark's record against the Soviet Union in Copenhagen was W1 D1 L3, although they were unbeaten in their last two matches there.

EURO facts: Russia

• This is Russia's fifth successive EURO final tournament and sixth in seven as an independent nation. They have featured in eight of the last nine EUROs, including this edition, appearing as the Soviet Union in 1988 and the Commonwealth of Independent States four years later, before their debut as Russia in 1996.

• The Soviet Union won the first UEFA European Championship in 1960 and were runners-up in 1964, 1972 and 1988. Russia's best performance since independence came in 2008, when they reached the semi-finals – the only time they have progressed beyond the group stage.

• In 2016, a team coached by Leonid Slutski finished bottom of Group B, picking up their only point in a 1-1 draw against England on Matchday 1. They subsequently lost to Slovakia (1-2) and Wales (0-3).

• The Matchday 2 defeat of Finland was Russia's first win in seven EURO finals games (D2 L4); their previous victory was a 4-1 demolition of the Czech Republic in their UEFA EURO 2012 opener. They have now won two of their last nine EURO finals matches (D2 L5).

• Stanislav Cherchesov's team qualified for UEFA EURO 2020 as Group I runners-up, losing both games to section winners Belgium but winning their other eight fixtures. Like Belgium, they kept seven clean sheets.

• Artem Dzyuba scored nine goals and provided five assists in qualifying, meaning he was directly involved in 42% of Russia's 33 goals.

EURO facts: Denmark

• This is Denmark's ninth appearance in the UEFA European Championship, but only their second in the past four editions. They were eliminated in the group stage at UEFA EURO 2012, finishing third in their section behind Germany and Portugal with three points from three games.

• The Danes lost to Scandinavian neighbours Sweden in the UEFA EURO 2016 play-offs, going down 4-3 on aggregate (1-2 a, 2-2 h).

• Denmark were winners at EURO '92, finished fourth in 1964 and reached the semi-finals in 1984. Their most recent knockout appearance came in 2004, when they lost 3-0 to the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.

• Denmark have lost their last four games in the EURO final tournament, and five of their last six; they have recorded only two wins in their last 12 EURO finals matches (D2 L8).

• The Danes booked their place at UEFA EURO 2020 by finishing second behind Switzerland in Group D despite remaining unbeaten in their eight qualifiers (W4 D4). They reached the finals with a 1-1 draw away to the Republic of Ireland in their final qualifier.

• Denmark are one of five teams to have reached UEFA EURO 2020 unbeaten along with Belgium, Italy – who both won every game – Spain and Ukraine. They are the only one of the five who did not top their group.

• Åge Hareide, who oversaw the successful qualifying campaign, was replaced by Kasper Hjulmand following the postponement of UEFA EURO 2020; the former Nordsjælland coach had been due to take over from Hareide after the tournament.

• Defeats by Finland and Belgium mean Denmark's record in Copenhagen is now W139 D60 L72. At Parken Stadium it is W61 D25 L20. They lost only one of their last 11 pre-UEFA EURO 2020 matches there (W6 D4) – 0-2 against Belgium in the UEFA Nations League on 5 September 2020 – before their two finals defeats.

Links and trivia

• Have played together:
Denis Cheryshev & Daniel Wass (Valencia 2018–)
Aleksei Miranchuk & Joakim Mæhle (Atalanta 2021–)

• Wass scored against Russian club Krasnodar in Celta Vigo's 2-1 home win in the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg.

• Miranchuk scored on his Atalanta debut in Denmark, coming off the bench to complete the scoring in a 4-0 win at Midtjylland on Matchday 1 of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League.

Latest news

Russia

• The win against Finland on Matchday 2 was only the fourth for Russia in their last 13 matches, the other three coming in World Cup qualifiers against Malta (3-1 a) and Slovenia (2-1 h) in March and a pre-UEFA EURO 2020 friendly against Bulgaria (1-0 h), which came four days after a 1-1 draw away to Poland.
 
• The clean sheet against Finland was Russia's first in ten EURO final tournament matches and was achieved by a goalkeeper, Matvei Safonov, making his first international start. He was also unbeaten on his only previous appearance, as a 63rd-minute substitute in the recent friendly against Poland.

• Aleksei Miranchuk's winner against Finland made him the first member of Stanislav Cherchesov's squad to score a EURO finals goal. It was the Atalanta midfielder's sixth in 35 internationals and only his second in a competitive match, the previous one having come in Russia's final UEFA EURO 2020 qualifier, away to San Marino (5-0).

• Russia's opening 3-0 defeat by Belgium was their joint heaviest at a EURO final tournament and their second in a row by that scoreline following their closing loss to Wales at UEFA EURO 2016.

• There are five members of Saint Petersburg club Zenit's 2020/21 Russian Premier League title-winning side in Cherchesov's squad – Oleksandr Karaveev, Magomed Ozdoev, Yuri Zhirkov, Daler Kuzyaev and 20-goal striker Artem Dzyuba.

• Dzyuba and Aleksandr Golovin are the only two survivors from Russia's UEFA EURO 2016 squad – both players featured in all three games in France – while Zhirkov is a veteran of the two previous EUROs of 2008, when he started every game as Russia reached the semi-finals, and 2012, when he was also ever-present.

• Dzyuba, Golovin and Zhirkov also played for Russia in the home World Cup of 2018, where Kuzyaev, Roman Zobnin, Mário Fernandes, Fedor Kudryashov, Miranchuk, four-goal Denis Cheryshev and non-playing Andrei Semenov were also present.

• Russia captain Dzyuba, with 29 international goals, needs one more to go level with Aleksandr Kerzhakov as Russia's all-time top scorer. Dzyuba's tallies of 26 goals in competitive internationals and 17 in the UEFA European Championship – all in the qualifying competition – are already national records.

Denmark

• The Matchday 2 defeat by Belgium, while a second in succession after the opening reverse against Finland, was only Denmark's fourth loss in their last 30 matches (W17 D9), two of the others having also been against Belgium, in the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League (0-2 h, 2-4 a).

• Yussuf Poulsen's early strike on Matchday 2 was his second goal at a major tournament following his winner against Peru at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He now has nine goals in 56 internationals.

• Denmark warmed up for UEFA EURO 2020 by drawing 1-1 against Germany in Innsbruck on 2 June – Poulsen scoring the equaliser – and beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 at home four days later in the Brøndby Stadion, where Martin Braithwaite and Andreas Cornelius were on target. That second encounter brought Denmark their ninth win in 11 games and ninth clean sheet in 12.

• Christian Eriksen and captain Simon Kjær were the only two members of Kasper Hjulmand's squad to have previously played in a EURO final tournament before Matchday 1. They both started all three matches in 2012, when Kasper Schmeichel and Daniel Wass were unused members of the 23-man party.

• Kjær joined Eriksen on 109 caps with his appearance against Belgium, moving to joint fourth in Denmark's all-time list.

• Eriksen was an Italian Serie A winner with Internazionale in 2020/21, while Andreas Christensen assisted in Chelsea's UEFA Champions League triumph. Domestic cups were also won in England by Schmeichel (Leicester City), in Germany by Thomas Delaney (Borussia Dortmund) and in Spain by Braithwaite (Barcelona).