Bengaluru, June 13: Joel Pohjanpalo scored and Lukas Hradecky saved a penalty to give Finland a 1-0 victory over Denmark on Saturday (June 12) in a Group B Euro 2020 game overshadowed by Christian Eriksen's collapse on the field.
The game was suspended for about 90 minutes as Eriksen needed urgent medical treatment near the end of the first half before being taken to a hospital. The Danish federation later announced Eriksen was awake and in stable condition.
UEFA soon announced that the game, which was locked at 0-0 with more than a half to play, would restart. When play resumed, Pohjanpalo put Finland ahead against the run of play in the 60th minute when he rose above Joakim Maehle to head home a cross from Jere Uronen.
Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel got his hands on the ball but couldn't keep it out. It was Finland's only effort on goal in the entire game as Denmark dominated throughout and finished with 23 total shots, although only six were on target.
The Danes' best chance came when they were handed a penalty after Yussuf Poulsen went down under a challenge from Paulus Arajuuri. But Hradecky dived to his left to stop a tame effort from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the 74th minute.
With OPTA inputs, myKhel.com looks at some of the statistical highlights from the match held at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen:
● Finland have only lost one of their last eight competitive matches, picking up five victories and four clean sheets in the process (D2).
● Denmark have missed three of their last four penalties in major competitions (World Cup + Euros), having scored the previous five between 1984 and 1998.
● Denmark have failed to win eight of their nine opening matches at the European Championships (D3 L5).
● Joel Pohjanpalo scored Finland's first ever goal at the European Championships with what was their first shot in the competition.
● Joel Pohjanpalo scored his 10th goal for Finland, in what was his 43rd cap for his country - becoming one of only two players in Finland's Euro 2020 squad to have netted 10+ goals for the national side (also Teemu Pukki, 30).
● Finland's Lukas Hradecky is only the third goalkeeper to save a penalty on their debut appearance in the European Championships after Przemyslaw Tyton in 2012 (Poland v Greece) and Trols Rasmussen in 1988 (Denmark v Spain).