And that’s all from me for today – might I humbly point you towards Rob Smyth’s live blog for all things Ingerlund, and in the meantime I’ll leave you with this:

As supporters gather and flags flutter on Wembley Way ahead of kickoff, treat yourself to this wonderful piece by Jonathan Liew on what it means to be an England fan in 2021:

The England team news is in – and we do indeed appear to have a right-back at left-back. Right?

Peter Schmeichel says it was “a ridiculous decision” by Uefa to resume the game between Denmark and Finland yesterday evening. The former goalkeeper, whose son Kasper was on the field for Denmark, told BBC Radio 5 Live that Uefa should have worked out “a different scenario and shown a little bit of compassion”.

And indeed here’s our own Ben Fisher on the Wales heroes who haven’t been playing for their clubs:

Wales’ interim manager has explained why yesterday’s goalscoring hero Kieffer Moore hadn’t been more involved in the team’s warmup games – an issue that had become a source of contention among the fans. “The domestic season at Championship level has been relentless because of Covid,” said Page. “It has been Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday. Kieffer came into camp in March and he was injured with his heels, so we’ve had to protect him. He didn’t need the two games as much as some of the others. There were so many players that we had that needed minutes in those two friendlies. It wasn’t about formation, it wasn’t about personnel, it was about getting players on the pitch to make sure they were right for the Switzerland game.”

The esteemed Rob Smyth is manning the England v Coatia live blog, which is now up and running ahead of the Big One:

Kari Tulinius emails in: “That was a very apt comparison between Modric and Zidane, two of the most expressive footballers I’ve had the pleasure to watch. In fact, I think that similarity is what allowed Zidane to get more out of Modric than any other manager: he knew what Modric needed to express himself fully. Other brilliant managers didn’t quite get it, like when Rafa Benitez tried to get Modric to stop passing with the outside of his foot. Zidane, by contrast, encouraged that, with amazing results.”

Understatement of the century goes to Spain manager Luis Enrique, who has describes his team’s preparations for the Euros have been “not ideal”.

Spain’s captain was left out of the squad and their star striker jeered by his own fans – and that was before Covid measures prompted the calling-up of an 11-man emergency reserve squad, while the senior players trained in two separate bubbles. “[Left-backs] Jordi Alba and Gayá can’t come within 10 metres of each other. The right-back can’t mix with the right-back.” A bizarre reflection of our times. Sid Lowe has all those details and more:

Downing Street has said Boris Johnson was “shocked” by what happened to Christian Eriksen and his thoughts are with the player and his family. The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “He is very thankful for the quick-thinking actions of officials and the work of paramedics. The response of the players and fans in the stadium was exemplary, and showed sport at its best.”

Here’s our news story on João Cancelo’s last-minute withdrawal from the Portugal squad:

Some utterly baseless comments from Luka Modric on the fine and noble workforce that is the English press: “That arrogance is not so much related to the [England] players but the people around them, some of the journalists and commentators.” Well I never.

Less contentiously, he also says that his opponents today will be given an advantage by the presence of a home crowd. “I think so, yes. It’s a shame there won’t be a lot of Croatia supporters because we always feel their presence when they are there. But it is how it is. We need to focus on the pitch and don’t get bothered about the environment.”

Will this be Modric’s last major tournament? If so, we should drink in every last second of it – for my money the most watchable footballer since Zidane.

Timothy Castange’s tournament has ended having barely begun. The Leicester full-back was replaced 27 minutes into yesterday’s game against Russia with a fractured eye socket – a similar injury to the one that kept Kevin De Bruyne out of the match – and the Belgium FA has confirmed will play no further part in the European Championship as he requires surgery.

Castagne suffered the injury in a mid-air collision with Daler Kuzyaev and was replaced by Thomas Meunier, who scored seven minutes after coming on.

Should that rumoured England side be correct, much discussion will be over Southgate leaving out the creativity of Jack Grealish. But he’d also be picking Raheem Sterling (two goals in his last 18 games) over Jadon Sancho (10 in his last 16) – is the Dortmund man in danger of being left out of the picture?

Over in Budapest, the Manchester City full-back João Cancelo has tested positive for Covid-19 two days before Portugal’s opener against Hungary, and has been replaced in the squad by Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot.

“Cancelo tested positive for Covid-19 following a quick test of the antigen carried out this Saturday,” said the Portuguese Football Federation. “The Hungarian health authorities were immediately informed and the player – who is fine – was placed in isolation. In accordance with the Covid-19 protocol defined by Uefa, on Saturday all players and members of the entourage were subjected to RT-PCR tests. The results, with the exception of Cancelo, were negative.”

It’s been a big week for Dalot, who was part of the Portugal side beaten in the European Championship Under-21 final by Germany last Sunday.

A full report on the latest news around Christian Eriksen:

And ahead of North Macedonia’s match against Austria, here is a fantastic profile of the timeless Goran Pandev – international star, national icon and all-round good egg:

Accidental leaders, Englishness, culture wars, tactical conundrums and 90 minutes of glorious escapism. Barney Ronay raises the curtain on England at Euro 2020:

The Danish FA have given a hugely welcome update on Christian Eriksen:

Meanwhile, early whispers ahead of England’s opener against Croatia suggest that Gareth Southgate may be set to field a back four, with [drum roll] Kieran Trippier at left-back! Did he break the news to Ben Chilwell to a soundtrack of Kenny G?

The Finland striker Teemu Pukki says last night’s game was “definitely one of the most difficult” of his career. “Hopefully everything is getting a better direction now,” he said of Eriksen. “We decided to do what the Danish team would decide and were ready to continue whatever decision was taken. It was definitely not easy to come back to the pitch. But once we heard everything seemed to be fine, we started concentrating again on the game.

Yesterday’s fixture was the Finland men’s team’s first appearance at a major tournament. What a tough way to play it out. “In the end, we’re glad about the victory,” said Pukki. “The atmosphere after the game is definitely not as glorious as usual but we got important three points.”

After opening the scoring against Russia last night, Romelu Lukaku made a beeline for the TV camera to say: “Chris, I love you” to his Inter teammate. This morning a former temmate has done the same, Son Heung-min converting a penalty for South Korea against Lebanon in Goyang before saying “Christian Eriksen, I love you” into the camera. Lovely gestures from two magnificent people.

View image in fullscreen

Understandably enough Denmark have cancelled their press conference today, according to Danish media reports, and the team’s training session has been postponed.

It’s easy now to forget that amid last night’s extreme hardship, a football game was played – and finished. Here is our report from a match that “felt extraordinarily trivial and hugely significant”:

… and our own Jonathan Wilson on the air of alarm inside the stadium:

The lasting image from yesterday was of the Denmark players stood together, arms linked, in a circle around their teammate. Here is Denmark’s proud coach, Kasper Hjulmand, speaking eloquently on “a tough night” and the power of camaraderie:

Hello and welcome to today’s Euro 2020 live blog, where we’ll bring you all the latest news in the leadup to today’s three fixtures – which start of course with England’s bow against Croatia at 2pm (BST).

But first things first: Christian Eriksen was awake and in stable condition last night after being taken to a Copenhagen hospital, the Danish FA have said. The team doctor, Morten Boesen, who gave Eriksen CPR on the pitch said yesterday evening: “He spoke to me before he was taken to the hospital.” This, you will agree, is an indescribable relief. Here’s our news report: