Ukraine is the last quarter-finalist, decided by an overtime goal

The European championship has reached its eight final matches. After 7 duels Sweden and Ukraine faced each other and both teams were really up against it. Emotions were running high in this match. It was decided in extra time.

There was a lot of nervousness in the beginning of the match. But after 5 minutes, the Swedes took the initiative and created some interesting opportunities around the opponents’ six. At the beginning of the second ten minutes, Swedish goalkeeper Olsen had to pull out for a change, saving Yarmolenko.

On both sides, chances often ended in inaccurate or intercepted passes before the final phase, which meant that even after 25 minutes the score was 0:0 on the scoreboard.

However, in the 27th minute everything was different. Yarmolenko centred into the penalty area from the left and Manchester City defender Zinchenko sent Ukraine into the lead with a volley.

The answer could have come quickly from Larsson, but his shot was cleared by Buchan. The Dynamo Kyiv goalkeeper then went for the centre from the corner kick, and Ukraine held on to the lead.

After a long conquest, however, the Swedes finally got the equalizer. Forsberg fired from outside the box and Zabarnyi crossed his shot past the helpless goalkeeper Buschan. The score was 1:1.

The second half started very similarly to the first. Larsson sent the first interesting shot in the 54th minute, but missed the goal by a whisker. On the other side there was a much more interesting shot when Sydorchuk hit the bar with his shot.

A minute later, Forsberg answered with the same coin on the other side, his shot also licking the post. The game was getting tougher for both national teams and chances were certainly not scarce. As in the opening half, Sweden had the visual advantage, relying mainly on the attacking trio of Kulusevski – Forsberg – Isak.

It was Kulusevski who put the Ukrainian goalkeeper through in the 66th minute. Goalkeepers in general played a big role in keeping the game tied. But apart from the goalkeepers, the goal structure also played its part.

In the 69th minute Forsberg leaned into the ball on the left of the centre line on the edge of the penalty area and his shot rang off the crossbar in a way that must have been heard throughout Glasgow.

Time was slowly ticking away towards extra time and the tension was palpable. The chances slowly disappeared and it looked like we were in for 30 minutes of extra football. And that’s what happened. With the score at 1-1, we were facing extra time in the fourth of eight games between the top 16 teams.

The overtime started very cautiously and nothing big happened for a long time. But in the 98th minute, the turning point came. Danielson was red-carded after an unintentional but clear knee-tap on Besedin and the Ukrainians had a 20-minute power play. But nothing came of the pressure so far and it was tied at the end of the first overtime.

In the 111th minute, substitute Dovbyk had a great opportunity, but after a while he was called offside. After the next minutes, the last five minutes were short of penalties. The Swedes defended really hard and despite the numerical disadvantage managed to go on the counter-attack here and there.

But there was no penalty. Dovbyk, who had missed an opportunity 10 minutes earlier, managed to make the most of Zinchenko’s centre to send Ukraine towards the open door and the window to the quarter-finals.

The Ukrainians advanced to the last 8 teams after a surreal finish and can look forward to facing England in Rome.

Source: UEFA