Euro 2024 Final: Still waiting, still hurting

🟥 EURO 2024 FINAL 🟥

SPAIN 2 Williams 47, Oyarzabal 86
ENGLAND 1 Palmer 73

Spain Unai Simon, Carvajal, Le Normand (Nacho 83), Laporte, Cucurella, Rodri (Zubimendi 46), Olmo, Fabian Ruiz, Morata, Williams, Yamal (Merino 89) Booked Olmo
England Pickford, Walker, Stones, Guehi, Saka, Mainoo (Palmer 70), Rice, Shaw, Foden (Toney 89), Bellingham, Kane (Watkins 61) Booked Kane, Stones
Attendance 65,600 at the Olympiastadion, Berlin Referee  Francois Letexier (France)
Kick-off 8pm BST. Live on BBC and ITV.

SPAIN crushed England dreams of a first major trophy in 58 years as Mikel Oyarzabal struck with only four minutes left in Berlin to win the Euro 2024 Final.

Substitute Oyarzabal converted a cross from the left by Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella as La Roja lifted the European Championship trophy for a record fourth time, following previous triumphs in 1964, 2008 and 2012.

But, for England, the wait to add a second title to the 1966 World Cup goes on, despite Fate teasing the Three Lions at the end that they could bring the match level for a second time.

Semi final hero Ollie Watkins mis-controlled a sharp ball by Jude Bellingham into his feet in the box - before an excellent delivery off a corner by Cole Palmer found Declan Rice rising to bring a point-blank save from Unai Simon.

The ball rebounded to Marc Guehi who did everything he could to get his header on target, only for Dani Olmo to clear off the line. Rice then sent a third header harmlessly over the bar.

For once in this tournament then, after the recoveries in previous knockout rounds against Slovakia and Switzerland - and the late winner in the semi final against Netherlands - there was no dividend paid out to England for their attempted comeback. 

Yet, prior to Oyarzabal's goal, it looked as if Gareth Southgate's men just might be about to pull off something special.

Of course, to begin with, the match took on a predictable pattern. Spain dominated possession and threatened to open up England on several occasions - but the Three Lions kept their shape and, for the most part, looked pretty comfortable.

England even threw a few of their own punches - and both teams will have walked down the tunnel at the interval satisfied with the state of play.

Within seconds of the restart, though, everything changed.

Teenager Lamine Yamal cut in from the right, shrugging off Luke Shaw to leave several England players in his wake on the edge of the box.

A simple ball to his left found the unmarked Nico Williams with space and time to pick his spot - and the winger made absolutely no mistake with his finish.

At least it was a familiar position for England in this tournament - against Slovakia in the Last 16, Bellingham rescued a draw in the 95th minute before Harry Kane's header at the start of extra time.

Against Switzerland in the quarter finals, Bukayo Saka struck an 80th-minute equaliser only minutes after England had fallen behind - before the Three Lions progressed with a perfect set of spot-kicks.

Then, against Netherlands in the semi final, Watkins prevented another torturous extra time period with a wonderful turn-and-shot in the 90th minute.

But Spain were another proposition altogether - and La Roja had chances to put the match out of England's reach through Olmo, who unusually missed the target, and Yamal who brought the best out of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

At 1-0 down, though, England knew they were still in with a chance - and, in a rare foray deep into Spanish territory, Saka strode down the right and found Bellingham in the box.

The Real Madrid man's well-paced lay-off allowed Chelsea's impressive youngster Palmer to drive through the ball first-time into the bottom corner for a wonderful equaliser.

Game on - but, in truth, the pattern of the match did not change, with England seemingly happy enough to coast with the scores level towards extra time.

By contrast, Spain continued to look for gaps - and, with time running out before an extension to the match, Oyarzabal succeeded in cracking open the lock on the treasure chest.

For sure, those late chances for Watkins, Rice and Guehi made this feel like a cruel defeat for England in a match in which they never looked completely outclassed.

Equally, though, Southgate's side were clearly second-best in this Final - and, while it hurts right now to admit it, that is not something of which to be ashamed in the face of this delightful Spain team.

Manchester City midfielder Rodri was awarded player of the tournament - but the excellent Olmo can count himself particularly unlucky not to have taken that prize after his three goals in three separate knockout stage games, and that goal-line clearance.

Down the left, Athletic Bilbao winger Williams provided a constant threat - while, on the other flank, the Spanish unveiled their latest diamond.

There is nothing rough about Yamal, though - and, though Shaw generally kept the 17-year-old relatively subdued, the Barcelona teenager has already demonstrated enough to make it clear that he is a star in the making.

Indeed, Olmo, Williams, Yamal and Fabian Ruiz all compensated for their misfiring skipper Alvaro Morata by using space down the wings and swarming the box.

By contrast, from an attacking perspective, England had an extremely limited tactical approach which left them too reliant on moments of fortune and individual pieces of football genius.

Thankfully, there were actually quite a few of both of those - and, notably without the latter, this campaign would have finished in a woeful defeat to Slovakia.

All the way through this tournament though, England were unable to construct attacks in a consistent and structured fashion.

Kane infuriatingly kept dropping far too deep, Phil Foden and Bellingham failed to pick up the slack when he did, while the likes of Palmer, Eberechi Eze and Anthony Gordon in particular needed to be given far more opportunity than they were.

In his post-match interview, head coach Southgate insisted now "is not the time" to make a decision on his future - but, by the end of Tuesday morning, he had resigned.

Southgate moves on with his head held high, having enhanced his CV after overseeing runs to the 2018 World Cup semi finals, the Euro 2020+1 Final, and now the Euro 2024 Final.

Even the 2022 World Cup concluded with a creditable defeat to defending champions and eventual runners-up France at the quarter final stage.

England have literally never seen such a sustained period of being thereabouts in successive tournaments, though sadly they never made it there.

Certainly, it is a far cry from the mess which Southgate inherited in 2016 when, less than six months after the humiliating defeat to Iceland, he followed on from the grubby Sam Allardyce misadventure.

On that note, Southgate represented his position well, respecting his opponents and addressing the issue of racism on social media and in the stands in a calm and rational manner.

In this way at least, he did not shy away from his responsibilities as an England representative.

Meanwhile, on the pitch, the 53-year-old led England through as many knockout stage progressions - nine - as all of his predecessors combined.

Under Southgate, the Three Lions also topped their group in major tournaments on successive occasions for the first time ever - and, in fact, have done it three times in a row since Euro 2020+1.

So, for all the talk of favourable draws in the knockout stages, England have helped themselves with an uncharacteristic knack of making qualifying and group stages look easy.

Eight years is a long enough period to be in charge, though - and Southgate's stubborn selection choices and refusal even to consider altering his defensive tactical approach led to an increasingly fractious relationship with the Three Lions fanbase.

Atomic Kitten and all that seems a long time ago now - and, starved of any major trophy success since 1966, England fans are desperate for a trophy-winning manager, rather than a well-spoken diplomat who, upon his promotion from Under-21 coach, merely happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Nevertheless, any new coach will still face the same issue which has troubled England for decades and which Southgate, for all his group wins and knockout stage progressions, did not get any closer to solving.

Since Euro 2000, England have only beaten three teams ranked in the top 10 in the world in major tournament finals - Germany in 2000, Argentina in 2002 via a David Beckham penalty and Denmark in extra time in 2021.

Surely, though, a fresh broom is the only way to get the best out of a supremely talented squad who often succeeded in matches at this tournament despite the coach - and not because of him. 

🟥 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP ROLL OF HONOUR 🟥

Year	Champions	Runner-up	England performance	England coach
1960	SOVIET UNION	Yugoslavia	Did not enter	Walter Winterbottom
1964	SPAIN	Soviet Union	Preliminary round	Sir Alf Ramsey
1968	ITALY	Yugoslavia	Semi finals (third)	Sir Alf Ramsey
1972	WEST GERMANY	Soviet Union	Quarter finals* *not part of finals tournament	Sir Alf Ramey
1976	CZECHOSLOVAKIA	West Germany	Did not qualify	Don Revie
1980	WEST GERMANY	Belgium	Group stage	Ron Greenwood
1984	FRANCE	Spain	Did not qualify	Sir Bobby Robson
1988	NETHERLANDS	Soviet Union	Group stage	Sir Bobby Robson
1992	DENMARK	Germany	Group stage	Graham Taylor
1996	GERMANY	Czech Republic	Semi finals	Terry Venables
2000	FRANCE	Italy	Group stage	Kevin Keegan
2004	GREECE	Portugal	Quarter finals	Sven-Goran Eriksson
2008	SPAIN	Germany	Did not qualify	Steve McClaren
2012	SPAIN	Italy	Quarter finals	Roy Hodgson
2016	PORTUGAL	France	Last 16	Roy Hodgson
2020+1	ITALY	England	Runners-up	Gareth Southgate
2024	SPAIN	England	Runners-up	Gareth Southgate

🟥 EURO 2024 GROUP STAGE 🟥

■ GROUP A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) GERMANY	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7
(Q) SWITZERLAND	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
HUNGARY	1	0	2	2	5	-3	3
SCOTLAND	0	1	2	2	7	-5	1

14-June	20:00	GERMANY	5-1	SCOTLAND	Munich
ITV		Wirtz 10, Musiala 19 Havertz 45+1pen Fullkrug 68, Can 90+3		Rudiger 87og
15-June	14:00	HUNGARY	1-3	SWITZERLAND	Cologne
ITV		Varga 66		Duah 12, Aebischer 45 Embolo 90+3
19-June	17:00	GERMANY	2-0	HUNGARY	Stuttgart
BBC		Musiala 22, Gundogan 67
19-June	20:00	SCOTLAND	1-1	SWITZERLAND	Cologne
BBC		McTominay 13		Shaqiri 26
23-June	20:00	SWITZERLAND	1-1	GERMANY	Frankfurt
BBC		Ndoye 29		Fullkrug 90+2
23-June	20:00	SCOTLAND	0-1	HUNGARY	Stuttgart
BBC				Csoboth 90+10

■ GROUP B	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) SPAIN	3	0	0	5	0	+5	9
(Q) ITALY	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
CROATIA	0	2	1	3	6	-3	2
ALBANIA	0	1	2	3	5	-2	1

15-June	17:00	SPAIN	3-0	CROATIA	Berlin
ITV		Morata 29, Fabian Ruiz 32 Carvajal 45+2
15-June	20:00	ITALY	2-1	ALBANIA	Dortmund
BBC		Bastoni 11, Barella 16		Bajrami 1
19-June	14:00	CROATIA	2-2	ALBANIA	Hamburg
ITV		Kramaric 74, Gjasula 76og		Laci 11, Gjasula 90+5
20-June	20:00	SPAIN	1-0	ITALY	Gelsenkirchen
ITV		Calafiori 55og
24-June	20:00	ALBANIA	0-1	SPAIN	Dusseldorf
BBC				Ferran Torres 13
24-June	20:00	CROATIA	1-1	ITALY	Leipzig
BBC		Modric 55		Zaccagni 90+8

■ GROUP C	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) ENGLAND	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
(Q) DENMARK	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
(Q) SLOVENIA	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
SERBIA	0	2	1	1	2	-1	2

16-June	17:00	SLOVENIA	1-1	DENMARK	Stuttgart
ITV		Janza 77		Eriksen 17
16-June	20:00	SERBIA	0-1	ENGLAND	Gelsenkirchen
BBC				Bellingham 13
20-June	14:00	SLOVENIA	1-1	SERBIA	Munich
ITV		Karnicnik 69		Jovic 90+6
20-June	17:00	DENMARK	1-1	ENGLAND	Frankfurt
BBC		Hjulmand 34		Kane 18
25-June	20:00	ENGLAND	0-0	SLOVENIA	Cologne
ITV
25-June	20:00	DENMARK	0-0	SERBIA	Munich
ITV

■ GROUP D	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) AUSTRIA	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6
(Q) FRANCE	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
(Q) NETHERLANDS	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
POLAND	0	1	2	3	5	-2	1

16-June	14:00	POLAND	1-2	NETHERLANDS	Hamburg
BBC		Buksa 16		Gakpo 29, Weghorst 83
17-June	20:00	AUSTRIA	0-1	FRANCE	Dusseldorf
ITV				Wober 38og
21-June	17:00	POLAND	1-3	AUSTRIA	Berlin
ITV		Piatek 30		Trauner 9, Baumgartner 66 Arnautovic 78pen
21-June	20:00	NETHERLANDS	0-0	FRANCE	Leipzig
BBC
25-June	17:00	NETHERLANDS	2-3	AUSTRIA	Berlin
BBC		Gakpo 47, Depay 75		Malen 6og, Schmid 59 Sabitzer 80
25-June	17:00	FRANCE	1-1	POLAND	Dortmund
BBC		Mbappe 56pen		Lewandowski 79pen

■ GROUP E	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) ROMANIA	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
(Q) BELGIUM	1	1	1	2	1	+1	4
(Q) SLOVAKIA	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
UKRAINE	1	1	1	2	4	-2	4

17-June	14:00	ROMANIA	3-0	UKRAINE	Munich
BBC		Stanciu 29, R Marin 53 Dragus 57
17-June	17:00	BELGIUM	0-1	SLOVAKIA	Frankfurt
ITV				Schranz 7
21-June	14:00	SLOVAKIA	1-2	UKRAINE	Dusseldorf
BBC		Schranz 17		Shaparenko 54, Yaremchuk 80
22-June	20:00	BELGIUM	2-0	ROMANIA	Cologne
ITV		Tielemans 2, De Bruyne 80
26-June	17:00	SLOVAKIA	1-1	ROMANIA	Frankfurt
BBC		Duda 24		R Marin 37pen
26-June	17:00	UKRAINE	0-0	BELGIUM	Stuttgart
BBC

■ GROUP F	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) PORTUGAL	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
(Q) TURKEY	2	0	1	5	5	0	6
(Q) GEORGIA	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
CZECH REPUBLIC	0	1	2	3	5	-2	1

18-June	17:00	TURKEY	3-1	GEORGIA	Dortmund
BBC		Muldur 25, Guler 65 Akturkoglu 90+7		Mikautadze 32
18-June	20:00	PORTUGAL	2-1	CZECH REPUBLIC	Leipzig
BBC		Hranac 69og, Conceicao 90+2		Provod 62
22-June	14:00	GEORGIA	1-1	CZECH REPUBLIC	Hamburg
BBC		Mikautadze 45+4pen		Schick 59
22-June	17:00	TURKEY	0-3	PORTUGAL	Dortmund
ITV				Bernardo Silva 21, Akaydin 28og Bruno Fernandes 55
26-June	20:00	GEORGIA	2-0	PORTUGAL	Gelsenkirchen
ITV		Kvaratskhelia 2 Mikautadze 57pen
26-June	20:00	CZECH REPUBLIC	1-2	TURKEY	Hamburg
ITV		Soucek 66		Calhanoglu 51, Tosun 90+4

■ THIRD-PLACED TEAMS	Group	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) NETHERLANDS	[D]	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
(Q) GEORGIA	[F]	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
(Q) SLOVAKIA	[E]	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
(Q) SLOVENIA	[C]	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
HUNGARY	[A]	1	0	2	2	5	-3	3
CROATIA	[B]	0	2	1	3	6	-3	2

🟥 EURO 2024 KNOCKOUT STAGE 🟥

■ LAST 16

29-June	17:00	SWITZERLAND	2-0	ITALY	Berlin
BBC		Freuler 37, Vargas 46
29-June	20:00	GERMANY	2-0	DENMARK	Dortmund
ITV		Havertz 53pen, Musiala 68
30-June	17:00	ENGLAND	2-1	SLOVAKIA	Gelsenkirchen
ITV		Bellingham 90+5, Kane 91	aet	Schranz 25
30-June	20:00	SPAIN	4-1	GEORGIA	Cologne
ITV		Rodri 39, Fabian Ruiz 51 Williams 75, Olmo 83		Le Normand 18og
01-July	17:00	FRANCE	1-0	BELGIUM	Dusseldorf
ITV		Vertonghen 85og
01-July	20:00	PORTUGAL	0-0	SLOVENIA	Frankfurt
BBC		Portugal won 3-0 on penalties	aet
02-July	17:00	ROMANIA	0-3	NETHERLANDS	Munich
BBC				Gakpo 20, Malen 83, 90+3
02-July	20:00	AUSTRIA	1-2	TURKEY	Leipzig
ITV		Gregoritsch 66		Demiral 1, 59

■ QUARTER FINALS

05-July	17:00	SPAIN	2-1	GERMANY	Stuttgart
ITV		Olmo 51, Merino 119	aet	Wirtz 89
05-July	20:00	PORTUGAL	0-0	FRANCE	Hamburg
BBC			aet	France won 5-3 on penalties
06-July	17:00	ENGLAND	1-1	SWITZERLAND	Dusseldorf
BBC		Saka 80 England won 5-3 on penalties	aet	Embolo 75
06-July	20:00	NETHERLANDS	2-1	TURKEY	Berlin
ITV		De Vrij 70, Muldur 76og		Akaydin 35

■ SEMI FINALS

09-July	20:00	SPAIN	2-1	FRANCE
BBC		Yamal 21, Olmo 25		Kolo Muani 9

Spain Unai Simon; Jesus Navas (Vivian 58), Nacho, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fabian Ruiz; Yamal (Torres 90+3), Olmo (Merino 76), Williams (Zubimendi 90+4); Morata (Oyarzabal 76) Booked Jesus Navas, Yamal
France Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez T; Kante (Griezmann 62), Tchoumeni, Rabiot (Camavinga 62); Dembele (Giroud 79), Koli Muani (Barcola 63), Mbappe Booked Tchoumeni
Attendance 62,042 at the Allianz Arena in Munich Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)

05-July	17:00	NETHERLANDS	1-2	ENGLAND
ITV		Simons 7		Kane 18pen, Watkins 90

Netherlands Verbruggen; Dumfries (Zirkzee 90+3), De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake; Schouten, Reijnders; Malen (Weghorst 46), Simons (Brobbey 90+3), Gakpo; Depay (Veerman 35) Booked Dumfries, Van Dijk, Simons
England Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi; Saka (Konsa 90+3), Mainoo (Gallagher 90+3), Rice, Trippier (Shaw 46); Foden (Palmer 80), Bellingham; Kane (Watkins 81) Booked Bellingham, Saka
Attendance 60,926 at the Westfalenstadion, Dortmund Referee Felix Zwayer (Germany)

■ GOALSCORERS 117 goals in 51 matches (2.29 goals per game)
3 Georges Mikautadze (Georgia), Jamal Musiala (Germany), Ivan Schranz (Slovakia), Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Dani Olmo (Spain), Harry Kane (England)
2 Niclas Fullkrug (Germany), Razvan Marin (Romania), Kai Havertz (Germany), Jude Bellingham (England), Fabian Ruiz (Spain), Donyell Malen (Netherlands), Merih Demiral (Turkey), Florian Wirtz (Germany), Breel Embolo (Switzerland), Nico Williams (Spain)
1 Emre Can (Germany), Kwadwo Duah (Switzerland), Michel Aebischer (Switzerland), Barnabas Varga (Hungary), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Dani Carvajal (Spain), Nedim Bajrami (Albania), Alessandro Bastani (Italy), Nicolo Barella (Italy), Adam Buksa (Poland), Wout Weghorst (Netherlands), Christian Eriksen (Denmark), Erik Janza (Slovenia), Nicolae Stanciu (Romania), Denis Dragus (Romania), Mert Muldur (Turkey), Arda Guler (Turkey), Kerem Akturkoglu (Turkey), Lukas Provod (Czech Republic), Francisco Conceicao (Portugal), Qazim Laci (Albania), Andrej Kramaric (Croatia), Klaus Gjasula (Albania), Ilkay Gundogan (Germany), Scott McTominay (Scotland), Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland), Zan Karnicnik (Slovenia), Luka Jovic (Serbia), Morten Hjulmand (Denmark), Mykola Shaparenko (Ukraine), Roman Yaremchuk (Ukraine), Gernot Trauner (Austria), Krzysztof Piatek (Poland), Christoph Baumgartner (Austria), Marko Arnautovic (Austria), Patrik Schick (Czech Republic), Bernardo Silva (Portugal), Bruno Fernandes (Portugal), Youri Tielemans (Belgium), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium), Dan Ndoye (Switzerland), Kevin Csoboth (Hungary), Ferran Torres (Spain), Luka Modric (Croatia), Mattia Zaccagni (Italy), Kylian Mbappe (France), Romano Schmid (Austria), Memphis Depay (Netherlands), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Marcel Sabitzer (Austria), Ondrej Duda (Slovakia), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia), Hakan Calhanoglu (Turkey), Tomas Soucek (Czech Republic), Cenk Tosun (Turkey), Remo Freuler (Switzerland), Ruben Vargas (Switzerland), Rodri (Spain), Michael Gregoritsch (Austria), Mikel Merino (Spain), Bukayo Saka (England), Samet Akaydin (Turkey), Stefan De Vrij (Netherlands), Kolo Muani (France), Lamine Yamal (Spain), Xavi Simons (Netherlands), Ollie Watkins (England), Cole Palmer (England), Mikel Oyarzabal (Spain)
10 own goals Antonio Rudiger (Germany) for Scotland, Maximilian Wober (Austria) for France, Robin Hranac (Czech Republic) for Portugal, Klaus Gjasula (Albania) for Croatia, Riccardo Calafiori (Italy) for Spain, Samet Akaydin (Turkey) for Portugal, Donyell Malen (Netherlands) for Austria, Robin Le Normand (Spain) for Georgia, Jan Vertonghen (Belgium) for France, Mert Muldur (Turkey) for Netherlands

■ RED CARDS
Ryan Porteous (Scotland) v Germany
Antonin Barak (Czech Republic) v Turkey
Tomas Chory (Czech Republic) v Turkey
Dani Carvajal (Spain) v Germany
Bertug Yildirim (Turkey) v Netherlands

Wales end 64-year World Cup wait against weary Ukraine

WALES ended 64 years of World Cup pain with a narrow victory over Ukraine in their qualifying playoff at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Inevitably, Gareth Bale was involved in the goal which sent the Welsh to a first World Cup finals since 1958 with his free-kick diverted via a flying header by Andriy Yarmolenko into the back of his own net.

Now, as well as the nature of the Welsh goal being a painful way to go out, Ukraine can consider themselves unfortunate not to have scored given their far greater share of the possession and chances in the match.

Earlier, last Wednesday, the dangerous Ukrainians had outclassed Scotland at Hampden Park, meaning the Scots' own wait for a World Cup finals appearance will extend to 28 years at least.

Callum McGregor gave some hope to Steve Clarke's side by pulling the score back to 2-1 after Ukraine goals from Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk, either side of half time, had deservedly put the visitors in control.

John McGinn then missed a big chance to equalise by sending a header wide from just six yards out.

But, as the Scots frantically searched for an equaliser through the bizarre tactic of playing Grant Hanley up front, Artem Dovbyk killed off the remaining hopes of the Tartan Army with the last kick of the game.

As such, it was merely another case of so near yet so far away for Scotland in the World Cup qualifiers in the 21st Century - which will be more than quarter of the way through by the end of the next edition.

Back to the present - and, in the final in Cardiff on Sunday, the threat of Ukraine was again immediately apparent.

Only four minutes were on the clock when Manchester City left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko hit the back of the net with a quick free-kick - taken too quickly as far as Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz was concerned.

The Ukrainians then had a succession of corners before Yaremchuk beat the offside trap but failed to beat Wayne Hennessey in a series of early efforts on the Welsh goal.

Consequently, Wales' goal on 34 minutes came rather out of the blue - and unsurprisingly from a Bale set-piece.

Even then, Rob Page's men had another scare to survive before half time when Joe Allen appeared to catch Yarmolenko on the foot after being dispossessed in the box by the West Ham United winger.

Yarmolenko certainly did not help his cause by the dramatic nature of his tumble - but there were more than a few sighs of relief among the capacity crowd of 33,280 when the Video Assistant Referee opted not to make any intervention.

In fairness, there was also hope that the Welsh might use the confidence gained from their hard-won advantage by improving their general performance in the second half.

But this Ukraine outfit were never going to go away quietly - and only they will know how they did not score early in the second half through Yaremchuk on the rebound after Hennessey had saved from Viktor Tsygankov.

Or just how Tottenham Hotspur defender Ben Davies managed to get across to block Yarmolenko from eight yards out - on two separate occasions.

It was not all completely one-way traffic, of course. Nottingham Forest winger Brennan Johnson hit the base of the post for Wales - and, shortly afterwards, Aaron Ramsey linked up with Bale whose cushioned volley was well-stopped.

For the last 10 minutes or so, though, it really was just one-way traffic as Ukraine set up camp inside the Wales half.

With six minutes left, the pressure almost paid off - but Hennessey made a flying save to deny a powerful header from substitute Artem Dovbyk.

It was truly a match-winning stop by the Burnley goalkeeper as, bar a couple more efforts which cleared the Welsh goal by some distance, weary Ukraine had nothing more to give thereafter.

In keeping with our expectations of this proud nation, it was a brave effort by Ukraine - but it was also an emotional occasion for Wales.

So often the headlines for the Welsh go to Bale or Ramsey. This time, though, it was undoubtedly Hennessey and Davies who got their team over the line.

Now, finally, the older Wales fans can banish the painful memories of defeat in playoff matches against Scotland in 1977 and 1985 - and the cold sweat-inducing flashback to 1993 of Paul Bodin's last-minute penalty miss against Romania.

Cymru have qualified again at last - and, except for hosts Qatar, who will be the sole debutants, Wales will have waited the longest time of any of the 31 returning qualifiers.

At this point in time, there are still two finals places left to be decided through the intercontinental playoffs in Qatar this month.

Australia became the representative from the Asian Confederation after beating the United Arab Emirates thanks to Ajdin Hrustic's deflected volley.

Graham Arnold's Socceroos will now face Peru in a one-off match on 13 June for the penultimate World Cup finals place.

On the following day, the outcome of the 32nd - and last - World Cup finals entrant will be known after Costa Rica take on New Zealand.

Therefore, it is only on 14 June - 161 days ahead of the opening match on 21 November - that the World Cup line-up will finally be completed.

Additionally, that night - only 46 days before the 2022-23 Football League season begins - the 2021-22 season of club and international football will have finished at last, ending with a series of UEFA Nations League fixtures.

Ahead of that, for the record, here is a list of winners (and losers) from another long domestic campaign:

ENGLAND

Premier League

Champions	Manchester City
Runners-up	Liverpool
Champions League	Chelsea (third place), Tottenham Hotspur (fourth place)
Europa League	Arsenal (fifth place), Manchester United (sixth place)
Europa Conference	West Ham United (seventh place)
Relegation	Burnley, Watford, Norwich City

Championship

Champions	Fulham
Runners-up	Bournemouth
Playoff winners	Nottingham Forest 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Relegation	Derby County*, Peterborough United, Barnley

* Derby County were deducted 12 points for entering administration on 22 September and a further nine points for financial irregularities on 16 November.

League One

Champions	Wigan Athletic
Runners-up	Rotherham United
Playoff winners	Sunderland (won 2-0 v Wycombe Wanderers)
Relegation	Gillingham, Doncaster Rovers, AFC Wimbledon, Crewe Alexandra

League Two

Champions	Forest Green Rovers
Runners-up	Exeter City
Also promoted	Bristol Rovers
Playoff winners	Port Vale (won 3-0 v Mansfield Town)
Relegation	Oldham Athletic, Scunthorpe United

National League Premier

Champions	Stockport County
Playoff winners	Grimsby Town (won 2-1 v Solihull Moors, after extra time)
Relegation	King's Lynn Town, Weymouth, Dover Athletic*

* Dover Athletic were deducted 12 points for failing to complete their fixtures in the 2020-21 season.

National League North

Champions	Gateshead
Playoff winners	York City (won 2-0h v Boston United)
Relegation	Guiseley

National League South

Champions	Maidstone United
Playoff winners	Dorking Wanderers (won 3-2h v Ebbsfleet United, after extra time)
Relegation	Billericay Town

Domestic Cup Finals

FA Cup Final	Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea, after extra time. Liverpool won 6-5 on penalties.
League Cup Final	Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea, after extra time. Liverpool won 11-10 on penalties.
FA Community Shield	Leicester City 1-0 Manchester City
EFL Trophy	Rotherham United 4-2 Sutton United, after extra time.
FA Trophy	Bromley 1-0 Wrexham
FA Vase	Newport Pagnell Town 3-0 Littlehampton Town

⚽

SCOTLAND

Premiership

Champions	Celtic
Runners-up	Rangers
Europa League	Heart of Midlothian (third place)
Europa Conference	Dundee United (fourth place), Motherwell (fifth place)
Relegation	Dundee

Championship

Champions	Kilmarnock
Runners-up	Arbroath (not promoted)
Relegation	Dunfermline Athletic, Queen of the South

League One

Champions	Cove Rangers
Runners-up	Airdrieonians (not promoted)
Playoff winners	Queen's Park (won 3-2 on agg v Airdrieonians (1-1h, 2-1a))
Relegation	Dumbarton, East Fife

League Two

Champions	Kelty Hearts
Runners-up	Forfar Athletic (not promoted)
Playoff winners	Edinburgh City (won 3-2 on agg v Annan Athletic (2-0h, 1-2a))
Relegation	Cowdenbeath (lost 0-4 on agg v Cove Rangers (0-3a, 0-1h))

Domestic Cup Finals

FA Cup Final	Rangers 2-0 Heart of Midlothian, after extra time
League Cup Final	Celtic 2-1 Hibernian
Challenge Cup Final	Raith Rovers 3-1 Queen of the South

⚽

WALES

Cymru Premier

Champions	The New Saints
Europa Conference	Bala Town (runners-up), Newtown (third place)
Relegation	Barry Town United, Cefn Druids

Welsh Cup Finals

FA Cup Final	The New Saints 3-2 Penybont
League Cup Final	Connah's Quay Nomads 0-0 Cardiff Metropolitan University Connah's Quay Nomads won 10-9 on penalties.

⚽

NORTHERN IRELAND

Irish Premiership

Champions	Linfield
Europa Conference	Cliftonville (runners-up), Larne (playoff winners), Crusaders (cup winners)
Relegation	Warrenpoint Town

Irish Cup Finals

IFA Cup Final	Crusaders 2-1 Ballymena United, after extra time
League Cup Final	Cliftonville 4-3 Coleraine, after extra time.

⚽

EUROPE

UEFA Finals

Champions League	Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool
Europa League	Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Rangers, after extra time.  Eintracht Frankfurt won 5-4 on penalties
Europa Conference	Roma 1-0 Feyenoord
Super Cup	Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal, after extra time. Chelsea won 6-5 on penalties.

Major European league champions

Spain	Real Madrid
Italy	AC Milan
Germany	Bayern Munich
France	Paris Saint-Germain
Portugal	FC Porto
Netherlands	Ajax Amsterdam
Belgium	Club Brugge
Greece	Olympiacos
Turkey	Trabzonspor

⚽

Here also, for reference, is the World Cup draw and match schedule in full:

(Q) WORLD CUP 2022 QUALIFIERS (Q)
Qatar, Germany, Denmark, Brazil, Belgium, France, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, Switzerland, England, Netherlands, Argentina, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Canada, Ghana, Senegal, Portugal, Poland, Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon, Mexico, United States, Wales, Australia, Costa Rica [32/32]

GROUP A QATAR - ECUADOR - SENEGAL - NETHERLANDS

	Date		Venue
ITV	Mon 21-Nov 10am	SENEGAL v NETHERLANDS	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha
BBC	Mon 21-Nov 4pm	QATAR v ECUADOR	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor
BBC	Fri 25-Nov 1pm	QATAR v SENEGAL	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha
ITV	Fri 25-Nov 4pm	NETHERLANDS v ECUADOR	Khalifa International, Al Rayyan
ITV	Tue 29-Nov 3pm	ECUADOR v SENEGAL	Khalifa International, Al Rayyan
ITV	Tue 29-Nov 3pm	NETHERLANDS v QATAR	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor

GROUP B ENGLAND - IRAN - UNITED STATES - WALES

	Date		Venue
BBC	Mon 21-Nov 1pm	ENGLAND v IRAN	Khalifa International, Al Rayyan
ITV	Mon 21-Nov 7pm	UNITED STATES v WALES	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan
BBC	Fri 25-Nov 10am	WALES v IRAN	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan
ITV	Fri 25-Nov 7pm	ENGLAND v UNITED STATES	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor
BBC	Tue 29-Nov 7pm	WALES v ENGLAND	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan
BBC	Tue 29-Nov 7pm	IRAN v UNITED STATES	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha

GROUP C ARGENTINA - SAUDI ARABIA - MEXICO - POLAND

	Date		Venue
ITV	Tue 22-Nov 10am	ARGENTINA v SAUDI ARABIA	Lusail Iconic, Lusail
BBC	Tue 22-Nov 4pm	MEXICO v POLAND	Stadium 974, Doha
ITV	Sat 26-Nov 1pm	POLAND v SAUDI ARABIA	Education City, Al Rayyan
ITV	Sat 26-Nov 7pm	ARGENTINA v MEXICO	Lusail Iconic, Lusail
BBC	Wed 30-Nov 7pm	POLAND v ARGENTINA	Stadium 974, Doha
BBC	Wed 30-Nov 7pm	SAUDI ARABIA v MEXICO	Lusail Iconic, Lusail

GROUP D FRANCE - AUSTRALIA - DENMARK - TUNISIA

	Date		Venue
ITV	Tue 22-Nov 1pm	DENMARK v TUNISIA	Education City, Al Rayyan
BBC	Tue 22-Nov 7pm	FRANCE v AUSTRALIA	Al Janoub, Al Wakrah
BBC	Sat 26-Nov 10am	TUNISIA v AUSTRALIA	Al Janoub, Al Wakrah
ITV	Sat 26-Nov 4pm	FRANCE v DENMARK	Stadium 974, Doha
BBC	Wed 30-Nov 3pm	AUSTRALIA v DENMARK	Al Janoub, Al Wakrah
BBC	Wed 30-Nov 3pm	TUNISIA v FRANCE	Education City, Al Rayyan

GROUP E SPAIN - COSTA RICA - GERMANY - JAPAN

	Date		Venue
ITV	Wed 23-Nov 1pm	GERMANY v JAPAN	Khalifa International, Al Rayyan
ITV	Wed 23-Nov 4pm	SPAIN v COSTA RICA	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha
ITV	Sun 27-Nov 10am	JAPAN v COSTA RICA	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan
BBC	Sun 27-Nov 7pm	SPAIN v GERMANY	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor
ITV	Thu 01-Dec 7pm	JAPAN v SPAIN	Khalifa International, Al Rayyan
ITV	Thu 01-Dec 7pm	COSTA RICA v GERMANY	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor

GROUP F BELGIUM - CANADA - MOROCCO - CROATIA

	Date		Venue
ITV	Wed 23-Nov 10am	MOROCCO v CROATIA	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor
BBC	Wed 23-Nov 7pm	BELGIUM v CANADA	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan
BBC	Sun 27-Nov 1pm	BELGIUM v MOROCCO	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha
BBC	Sun 27-Nov 4pm	CROATIA v CANADA	Khalifa International, Al Rayyan
BBC	Thu 01-Dec 3pm	CROATIA v BELGIUM	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan
BBC	Thu 01-Dec 3pm	CANADA v MOROCCO	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha

GROUP G BRAZIL - SERBIA - SWITZERLAND - CAMEROON

	Date		Venue
ITV	Thu 24-Nov 10am	SWITZERLAND v CAMEROON	Al Janoub, Al Wakrah
BBC	Thu 24-Nov 7pm	BRAZIL v SERBIA	Lusail Iconic, Lusail
ITV	Mon 28-Nov 10am	CAMEROON v SERBIA	Al Janoub, Al Wakrah
ITV	Mon 28-Nov 4pm	BRAZIL v SWITZERLAND	Stadium 974, Doha
ITV	Fri 02-Dec 7pm	SERBIA v SWITZERLAND	Stadium 974, Doha
ITV	Fri 02-Dec 7pm	CAMEROON v BRAZIL	Lusail Iconic, Lusail

GROUP H PORTUGAL - GHANA - URUGUAY - SOUTH KOREA

	Date		Venue
BBC	Thu 24-Nov 1pm	URUGUAY v SOUTH KOREA	Education City, Al Rayyan
ITV	Thu 24-Nov 4pm	PORTUGAL v GHANA	Stadium 974, Doha
BBC	Mon 28-Nov 1pm	SOUTH KOREA v GHANA	Education City, Al Rayyan
ITV	Mon 28-Nov 7pm	PORTUGAL v URUGUAY	Lusail Iconic, Lusail
BBC	Fri 02-Dec 3pm	GHANA v URUGUAY	Al Janoub, Al Wakrah
BBC	Fri 02-Dec 3pm	SOUTH KOREA v PORTUGAL	Education City, Al Rayyan

SECOND ROUND

Time	Date		Venue
3pm	Sat 03-Dec	(1) WINNER A v RUNNER-UP B	Khalifa International, Al Rayyan
7pm	Sat 03-Dec	(2) WINNER C v RUNNER-UP D	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan
3pm	Sun 04-Dec	(3) WINNER D v RUNNER-UP C	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha
7pm	Sun 04-Dec	(4) WINNER B v RUNNER-UP A	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor
3pm	Mon 05-Dec	(5) WINNER E v RUNNER-UP F	Al Janoub, Al Wakrah
7pm	Mon 05-Dec	(6) WINNER G v RUNNER-UP H	Stadium 974, Doha
3pm	Tue 06-Dec	(7) WINNER F v RUNNER-UP E	Education City, Al Rayyan
7pm	Tue 06-Dec	(8) WINNER H v RUNNER-UP G	Lusail Iconic, Lusail

QUARTER FINALS

Time	Date		Venue
3pm	Fri 09-Dec	WINNER (5) v WINNER (6)	Education City, Al Rayyan
7pm	Fri 09-Dec	WINNER (1) v WINNER (2)	Lusail Iconic, Lusail
3pm	Sat 10-Dec	WINNER (7) v WINNER (8)	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha
7pm	Sat 10-Dec	WINNER (3) v WINNER (4)	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor

SEMI FINALS

Time	Date		Venue
7pm	Tue 13-Dec	WINNER QF1 v WINNER QF2	Lusail Iconic, Lusail
7pm	Wed 14-Dec	WINNER QF3 v WINNER QF4	Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor

THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF

Time	Date		Venue
3pm	Sat 17-Dec	LOSER SF1 v LOSER SF2	Khalifa International, Al Rayyan

WORLD CUP FINAL

Time	Date		Venue
4pm	Sun 18-Dec	WINNER SF1 v WINNER SF2	Lusail Iconic, Lusail

Euro 2020+1 - Southgate seeks to banish the ghosts of Euro 96

➡️ ENGLAND lined up a Last 16 tie against old rivals Germany after progressing from the first Group Stage of a major tournament without conceding a goal for the first time since 1966.

Raheem Sterling scored the solitary goal in matches against Croatia and the Czech Republic either side of a 0-0 stalemate in the much-anticipated clash against Scotland.

It would be fair to say then that the Three Lions have been unspectacular at best so far - and will definitely need to step up a gear on Tuesday at 5pm against Joachim Loew's side.

For England boss Gareth Southgate, this fixture has its own back story, of course. 

Exactly 25 years ago today, on 26 June 1996, Southgate was the only player not to score in the shoot-out at Wembley which decided the Euro 96 semi final against Germany with his tame, side-footed effort saved easily by Andreas Koepke.

Now, Southgate has already gone some way to rectify the Three Lions' relationship with spot-kicks after his team beat Colombia on penalties on the way to the World Cup semi finals in 2018.

England also beat Switzerland on spot-kicks to claim third place in the inaugural Nations League competition. 

But, even though Southgate may deny its importance himself, the ghosts of 1996 still loom large ahead of this tie for the England supporters, at least. 

Unfortunately, the poverty of attacking play served up by Southgate's men, especially considering some of the talent available, has meant so far that Euro 2020+1 has not yet caused the same sort of buzz which swept the country in 1996 and 2018.

The under-capacity stands due to COVID-19 restrictions have not helped in this regard - and at least there will be a slightly increased total of 45,000 fans at Wembley on Tuesday. 

Hopefully then, Southgate will give them something to get excited about by taking the game to a Germany team which is a model of inconsistency, rather than the usual efficiency. 

Tournament favourites France beat the Nationalmannschaft via a Mat Hummels own goal but played in third gear throughout - and then Germany fell behind to defending champions Portugal in their second match. 

A pair of Portuguese own goals by Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro in the space of four minutes turned the contest around in the Germans' favour - and, inspired by a fantastic performance by Robin Gosens, they used the momentum to go 4-1 up, and eventually won 4-2.

In the meantime, underdogs Hungary coped well against the Group F giants - and took a point against France after taking the lead in a 1-1 draw in front of a raucous fully-vaccinated full house in Budapest. 

The results set up a crazy final day of Group F in which all four teams were able to finish in any of the positions - and, even as the matches entered their last 10 minutes, England had no idea who they would be playing. 

If Portugal had scored, England would have played France; if France had scored, Hungary would have been the visitors to Wembley; and if no one had scored, the Three Lions would have taken on Portugal.

Instead, Germany scored a second equaliser against Hungary - and both ties, Portugal versus France and Hungary versus Germany, were 2-2 draws and the table remained exactly the same as it had started the day. 

Germany were Group F runners-up and will take on Group D winners England - but, before all of that, Wales kick off the knockout stages on Saturday at 5pm against Denmark.

➡️ WHATEVER happens from here, the Welsh will no doubt reflect positively on these European Championships after proving their superb run to the semi finals of Euro 2016 was no fluke. 

A cautious opening against Switzerland almost cost the Dragons as they fell behind early in the second half - but, with time starting to run out, Kieffer Moore nodded in an equaliser from Joe Morrell's delicately clipped cross.

Switzerland still had time to see a goal correctly ruled offside in the last five minutes - but Wales were able to hang on for a valuable point in Baku. 

It was important then that Wales started more positively in their second match against Turkey - even though the proximity of Turkey to the Azerbaijani capital made this feel like an away game. 

The Baku crowd was silenced, though, as the Welsh scored in the closing stages of both halves through Aaron Ramsey and Connor Roberts in a thoroughly deserved win. 

Gareth Bale was the provider for both goals which made up for his miss from the spot when he blazed a second half penalty well over the bar - so not even that wild effort could detract from the Dragons' overall performance. 

The third match against Italy was much tougher - and became especially tough after Ethan Ampadu became only the second player at Euro 2020+1 to be sent off following a nasty late tackle on Federico Bernardeschi. 

Matteo Pessina had already put the Italians 1-0 up in the first half as the Azzurri dominated without breaking Wales down any further.

But, while Welsh progress through to the Last 16 was pretty straightforward, opponents Denmark had a journey which veered from near-tragedy to a triumph of sorts.

➡️ CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN'S sudden collapse on the pitch in Copenhagen in the closing stages of the first half of the Danes' match against Finland sent shockwaves around the football world. 

Thankfully, Eriksen was surrounded by good people - his captain Simon Kjær acted quickly to ensure his star player did not swallow his tongue while English referee Anthony Taylor immediately halted the match. 

Then, of course, there were the heroic medical professionals who were able to resuscitate the Internazionale midfielder using a defibrillator before he left the pitch waving from a stretcher. 

If there is one extremely positive thing to come out of this horrific coronavirus pandemic, it is recognition of the wonder that is medical science. 

Here was yet another example - and, miraculously, Eriksen was later well enough to speak to his fellow Denmark players via video link from hospital that same evening. 

During the call, Eriksen urged his team-mates to complete the match which had been suspended - and, indeed, the contest resumed and was completed with Finland winning 1-0. 

Denmark, unsurprisingly, looked like a team whose minds were elsewhere - and, despite Eriksen's encouragement, something still does not feel quite right about Denmark having to complete the match on the same day. 

Certainly, Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand was not happy with the pressure put on his team by UEFA - and nor was Danish goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel, father of current number one Kasper. 

Undoubtedly, though, the most important thing was that Eriksen was safe - and this positive news clearly had a galvanising effect on the Danish squad.

The Danes started their second match against Belgium like a runaway train, scoring after two minutes through Yussuf Poulsen and coming close to adding another on several occasions. 

But the Belgians are not ranked number one in the world for nothing - and the introduction of Kevin De Bruyne as a half time substitute turned the match around completely.

It meant Denmark were without a point after two games - but the generous system, which allows four third-placed teams to qualify, continued to give Hjulmand's men hope.

In front of a cracking atmosphere at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, the Danes delivered as Russia were demolished by a rampant display of attacking football. 

Then, it got even better for Denmark. Two late Belgium goals against Finland lifted the Danes into second place and automatic qualification - a pretty remarkable outcome, considering the ordeal of the previous two weeks.

A fairytale end to the Group Stage which even Hans Christian Anderson would have struggled to write. 

➡️ AMONG the other six ties, the stand-out match is clearly world number one Belgium against defending champions Portugal. 

Cristiano Ronaldo has already inevitably made his impact on Euro 2020+1 - his five goals make him leading goalscorer at the end of the Group Stage of this tournament - and now, on 14 goals overall, the 36-year-old is the outright leading goalscorer in the history of the European Championships.

Ronaldo is level with retired Iranian striker Ali Daei on 109 international goals so his next personal milestone is pretty obvious - although he barely could have ended up with tougher opposition in the Last 16.

Belgium retained their 100% record from the qualifiers with a 3-0 thrashing of Russia, that comeback win against Denmark, and a hard-fought victory against Finland. 

Romelu Lukaku and De Bruyne have looked in particularly good form - and so this match from Seville at 8pm tomorrow is certainly not one to miss.

Italy and Netherlands have both impressed on their international return with three wins out of three, and will start as favourites against Austria and the Czech Republic - while France will also be expected to beat perennial Last 16 losers Switzerland. 

The other two ties look too close to call - Croatia and Spain both started slowly before finding form in their final group games - and it should not be a surprise to anyone if Sweden were bogged down by Ukraine. 

➡️ GOING HOME after the Group Stage are: Turkey (Group A), Finland (Group B), Russia (Group B), North Macedonia (Group C), Slovakia (Group E), Poland (Group E), Hungary (Group F) - and, of course, Scotland (Group D). 

There were high hopes among the Tartan Army north of the border that, although their team was in its first major finals for 23 years, this would become the first Scottish team to make it beyond the Group Stages.

Instead, Czech striker Patrik Schick extinguished the early optimism with a header late in the first half before then producing a moment of absolute magic to silence Hampden Park. 

A pot-shot by Jack Hendry from 30 yards was blocked and rebounded into the path of Schick who was waiting on the halfway line for the opportunity to counter. 

Without breaking stride or taking a touch, Schick swerved the ball brilliantly from 49.7 yards past panicked goalkeeper David Marshall. 

Scotland had their chances to reduce their arrears thereafter but were wasteful in front of goal - and also failed to make the breakthrough against England despite dominating the match at Wembley. 

It all came down to the third match against Croatia where the Scots knew that a win would be enough and Callum McGregor offered yet more hope when his low drive just before half time cancelled out Nikola Vlasic's opener.

But that was as good as it got for the Scots - and, following the interval, Croatia took firm control of proceedings and showed signs of the quality which took them all the way to the World Cup Final three years ago. 

First, Luka Modric launched a howitzer of a strike with the outside of his right foot to restore the Vatreni's lead just past the hour - then, with less than a quarter of an hour remaining, Ivan Perisic flicked home a header from a corner. 

In the end then, the Scots' hard-fought and deserved draw at Wembley against England counted for absolutely nothing - and, as had been widely predicted beforehand, their key result came against the Czechs.

Elsewhere, Turkey - with three straight defeats - and Russia - with two heavy losses to Belgium and Denmark - were the biggest disappointments, along with Poland, who are almost always underwhelming. 

The Poles finished on just a single point from their three matches after Viktor Claesson's late winner for Sweden - while Slovakia, in the same section, also head home early after a final day thrashing by Spain. 

La Roja's 5-0 win over the Slovakians equalled the record for the biggest win in the history of the Championship - and will not be a match on which goalkeeper Martin Dubravka will look back with any fondness. 

Despite saving a penalty in the first half, Newcastle United goalkeeper Dubravka scored a horrific own goal by palming a ball which rebounded high off the bar into his own net. 

Dubravka is not alone in making a howler - the eight own goals at Euro 2020+1 is already a record for the Euros - while, at the other end of the pitch, six of the 14 penalties awarded so far have been missed or saved. 

Nevertheless, the Dubravka mistake stands out as the worst of the lot and set the tone as Slovakia crumbled badly. 

As expected, debutants Finland and North Macedonia did not make it through the Group Stage - but nor were they overwhelmed.

Finland, in particular, gave it a good go - their 1-0 win over Denmark kept the Eagles-Owls in contention until late on in their third match when Belgium finally made the breakthrough via another horrible goalkeeping own goal. 

The lowest ranked team, North Macedonia, were not as close as Finland to making a big impact and, in fact, lost all three of their matches. 

Nonetheless, the Lynxes still generally competed reasonably well in Group C as national legend Goran Pandev made an emotional goodbye on an unexpectedly big stage. 

Finally, Hungary - as mentioned above - also coped well with far superior opponents, and were within minutes of going through at the expense of Germany. 

But, not writing off the Germans is something now so ingrained in football folklore that an equaliser felt almost inevitable. 

And so here we go again... 

➡️ GROUP A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) ITALY	3	0	0	7	0	+7	9
(Q) WALES	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
(Q) SWITZERLAND	1	1	1	4	5	-1	4
TURKEY	0	0	3	1	8	-7	0

11-June	20:00	TURKEY	0-3	ITALY	Rome
BBC				Demiral 53og, Immobile 66 Insigne 79
12-June	14:00	WALES	1-1	SWITZERLAND	Baku
BBC		Moore 74		Embolo 49
16-June	17:00	TURKEY	0-2	WALES	Baku
BBC				Ramsey 42, C. Roberts 90+5
16-June	20:00	ITALY	3-0	SWITZERLAND	Rome
ITV		Locatelli 26, 52, Immobile 89
20-June	17:00	SWITZERLAND	3-1	TURKEY	Baku
ITV		Seferovic 6, Shaqiri 26, 68		Kahveci 62
20-June	17:00	ITALY	1-0	WALES	Rome
ITV		Pessina 39

➡️ GROUP B	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) BELGIUM	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
(Q) DENMARK	1	0	2	5	4	+1	3
FINLAND	1	0	2	1	3	-2	3
RUSSIA	1	0	2	2	7	-5	3

12-June	17:00	DENMARK	0-1	FINLAND	Copenhagen
BBC				Pohjanpalo 60
12-June	20:00	BELGIUM	3-0	RUSSIA	St Petersburg
ITV		Lukaku 10, 88, Meunier 34
16-June	14:00	FINLAND	0-1	RUSSIA	St Petersburg
BBC				Al. Miranchuk 45+2
17-June	17:00	DENMARK	1-2	BELGIUM	Copenhagen
ITV		Poulsen 2		T. Hazard 55, De Bruyne 70
21-June	20:00	RUSSIA	1-4	DENMARK	Copenhagen
BBC		Dzyuba 70pen		Damsgaard 38, Poulsen 59 Christensen 79, Maehle 82
21-June	20:00	FINLAND	0-2	BELGIUM	St Petersburg
BBC				Hrádecky 74og, Lukaku 81

➡️ GROUP C	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) NETHERLANDS	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9
(Q) AUSTRIA	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
(Q) UKRAINE	1	0	2	4	5	-1	3
NORTH MACEDONIA	0	0	3	2	8	-6	0

13-June	17:00	AUSTRIA	3-1	NORTH MACEDONIA	Bucharest
ITV		Lainer 18, Gregoritsch 78 Arnautovic 89		Pandev 28
13-June	20:00	NETHERLANDS	3-2	UKRAINE	Amsterdam
ITV		Wijnaldum 52, Weghorst 58 Dumries 85		Yarmolenko 75 Yaremchuk 79
17-June	14:00	UKRAINE	2-1	NORTH MACEDONIA	Bucharest
ITV		Yarmolenko 29 Yaremchuk 34		Alioski 57
17-June	20:00	NETHERLANDS	2-0	AUSTRIA	Amsterdam
BBC		Depay 11pen, Dumfries 67
21-June	17:00	NORTH MACEDONIA	0-3	NETHERLANDS	Amsterdam
ITV				Depay 24, Wijnaldum 51, 58
21-June	17:00	UKRAINE	0-1	AUSTRIA	Bucharest
ITV				Baumgartner 21

➡️ GROUP D	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) ENGLAND	2	1	0	2	0	+2	7
(Q) CROATIA	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
(Q) CZECH REPUBLIC	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
SCOTLAND	0	1	2	1	5	-4	1

13-June	14:00	ENGLAND	1-0	CROATIA	London
BBC		Sterling 57
14-June	14:00	SCOTLAND	0-2	CZECH REPUBLIC	Glasgow
BBC				Schick 42, 52
18-June	17:00	CROATIA	1-1	CZECH REPUBLIC	Glasgow
BBC		Perisic 47		Schick 37pen
18-June	20:00	ENGLAND	0-0	SCOTLAND	London
ITV
22-June	20:00	CROATIA	3-1	SCOTLAND	Glasgow
ITV		Vlasic 17, Modric 62, Perisic 77		McGregor 42
22-June	20:00	CZECH REPUBLIC	0-1	ENGLAND	London
ITV				Sterling 12

➡️ GROUP E	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) SWEDEN	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
(Q) SPAIN	1	2	0	6	1	+5	5
SLOVAKIA	1	0	2	2	7	-5	3
POLAND	0	1	2	4	6	-2	1

14-June	17:00	POLAND	1-2	SLOVAKIA	St Petersburg
ITV		Linetty 46		Szczesny 18og, Skriniar 69
14-June	20:00	SPAIN	0-0	SWEDEN	Seville
BBC
18-June	14:00	SWEDEN	1-0	SLOVAKIA	St Petersburg
BBC		Forsberg 77pen
19-June	20:00	SPAIN	1-1	POLAND	Seville
BBC		Morata 25		Lewandowski 54
23-June	17:00	SLOVAKIA	0-5	SPAIN	Seville
ITV				Dubravka 30og, Laporte 45+3 Sarabia 56, F. Torres 67, Kucka 71og
23-June	17:00	SWEDEN	3-2	POLAND	St Petersburg
ITV		Forsberg 2, 59 Claesson 90+4		Lewandowski 61, 84

➡️ GROUP F	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) FRANCE	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
(Q) GERMANY	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
(Q) PORTUGAL	1	1	1	7	6	+1	4
HUNGARY	0	2	1	3	6	-3	3

15-June	17:00	HUNGARY	0-3	PORTUGAL	Budapest
ITV				Guerreiro 84 Ronaldo 87pen, 90+2
15-June	20:00	FRANCE	1-0	GERMANY	Munich
ITV		Hummels 20og
19-June	14:00	HUNGARY	1-1	FRANCE	Budapest
BBC		Fiola 45+2		Griezmann 66
19-June	17:00	PORTUGAL	2-4	GERMANY	Munich
ITV		Ronaldo 15, Jota 67		Ruben Dias 35og, Guerreiro 39og Havertz 51, Gosens 60
23-June	20:00	PORTUGAL	2-2	FRANCE	Budapest
BBC		Ronaldo 31pen, 60pen		Benzema 45+2pen, 47
23-June	20:00	GERMANY	2-2	HUNGARY	Munich
BBC		Havertz 66, Goretzka 84		Ad. Szalai 11, Schafer 68

➡️ THIRD-PLACED TEAMS	Group	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
(Q) PORTUGAL	[F]	1	1	1	7	6	+1	4
(Q) CZECH REPUBLIC	[D]	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
(Q) SWITZERLAND	[A]	1	1	1	4	5	-1	4
(Q) UKRAINE	[C]	1	0	2	4	5	-1	3
FINLAND	[B]	1	0	2	1	3	-2	3
SLOVAKIA	[E]	1	0	2	2	7	-5	3

➡️ LAST 16
26-June 17:00 BBC	WALES	v	DENMARK	Amsterdam (NED)
26-June 20:00 BBC	ITALY	v	AUSTRIA	London (ENG)
27-June 17:00 ITV	NETHERLANDS	v	CZECH REPUBLIC	Budapest (HUN)
27-June 20:00 ITV	BELGIUM	v	PORTUGAL	Seville (ESP)
28-June 17:00 ITV	CROATIA	v	SPAIN	Copenhagen (DEN)
28-June 20:00 ITV	FRANCE	v	SWITZERLAND	Bucharest (ROM)
29-June 17:00 BBC	ENGLAND	v	GERMANY	London (ENG)
29-June 20:00 BBC	SWEDEN	v	UKRAINE	Glasgow (SCO)

➡️ SCORERS
5 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
3 Patrik Schick (Czech Republic), Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium), Emil Forsberg (Sweden), Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
2 Manuel Locatelli (Italy), Ciro Immobile (Italy), Andriy Yarmolenko (Ukraine), Roman Yaremchuk (Ukraine), Denzel Dumfries (Netherlands), Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland), Memphis Depay (Netherlands), Yussuf Poulsen (Denmark), Raheem Sterling (England), Ivan Perisic (Croatia), Karim Benzema (France), Kai Havertz (Germany)
1 Lorenzo Insigne (Italy), Breel Embolo (Switzerland), Kieffer Moore (Wales), Joel Pohnjanpalo (Finland), Thomas Meunier (Belgium), Stefan Lainer (Austria), Goran Pandev (North Macedonia), Michael Gregoritsch (Austria), Marko Arnautovic (Austria), Wout Weghorst (Netherlands), Karol Linetty (Poland), Milan Skriniar (Slovakia), Raphael Guerreiro (Portugal), Aleksei Miranchuk (Russia), Aaron Ramsey (Wales), Connor Roberts (Wales), Ezgjan Alioski (North Macedonia), Thorgan Hazard (Belgium), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium), Attila Fiola (Hungary), Antoine Griezmann (France), Robin Gosens (Germany), Diogo Jota (Portugal), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Haris Seferovic (Switzerland), Matteo Pessina (Italy), Irfan Kahveci (Turkey), Christoph Baumgartner (Austria), Mikkel Damsgaard (Denmark), Andreas Christensen (Denmark), Joakim Maehle (Denmark), Nikola Vlasic (Croatia), Callum McGregor (Scotland), Luka Modric (Croatia), Aymeric Laporte (Spain), Pablo Sarabia (Spain), Ferran Torres (Spain), Viktor Claesson (Sweden), Adam Szalai (Hungary), Andras Schafer (Hungary), Leon Goretzka (Germany)
8 own goals Merih Demiral (Turkey) v Italy, Wojciech Szczeny (Poland) v Slovakia, Mats Hummels (Germany) v France, Ruben Dias (Portugal) v Germany, Raphael Guerreiro (Portugal) v Germany, Lukas Hradecky (Finland) v Belgium, Martin Dubravka (Slovakia) v Spain, Juraj Kucka (Slovakia) v Spain

➡️ RED CARDS
Grzegorz Krychowiak (Poland) v Slovakia
Ethan Ampadu (Wales) v Italy