Roundup of the sixth day of Euro 2020 as the second round of group stage action got underway with both Group A matches taking place, alongside Finland’s Group B clash against Russia.
Finland and Italy entered this round looking to become the first teams to book their knockout places, whereas Russia and Turkey were looking to recover from brutal opening losses in their bid to reach the Last 16.
Wales and Switzerland meanwhile came into their games looking to boost their qualification hopes in Group A, following a 1-1 draw in Baku at the weekend.
Now here is a full roundup of the day’s action starting with the Group B clash between Finland and Russia in Saint Petersburg.
Finland 0-1 Russia
Joel Pohjanpalo nodded Finland ahead after just three minutes as he headed in from Jukka Raitala’s cross, only for his goal be harshly adjudged offside by VAR moments later.
Aleksei Miranchuk meanwhile proved to be hugely influential for Russia throughout the first half as he unleashed various attacking opportunities, which Magomed Ozdoev and Artem Dzyuba managed to waste as their shots went wide and hit the left post respectively.
Russia’s momentum was briefly halted after 23 minutes as Mario Fernandes suffered a suspected neck injury following a collision with Daniel O’Shaughnessy as they met Aleksandr Golovin’s cross.
Fernandes’ replacement, Vyacheslav Karavaev then suffered his own injury after Jere Uronen accidentally sent the Russian clattering into the right post as he cleared a low cross, although Karavaev was luckily able to continue.
Russia’s pressure eventually paid off as Miranchuk played a short one-two with Dzyuba in the second minute of injury time, feeding himself into the box to curl across into the top left corner to put them ahead.
Finland however started the second half brightly as Teemu Pukki saw two shots go wide and a penalty appeal waved away, following a foul from Igor Diveev during his first shot just inside the box.
Golovin, Rifat Zhemaletdinov and Daler Kuzyaev all saw second half chances go begging as Finland got stuck in, making their defence difficult for Russia to break down despite their dominance as Stanislav Cherchesov’s men clung on for victory.
Russia also moved off the bottom of Group B up to second by virtue of this win with Belgium set to meet Denmark on Thursday (17 June) at 5pm UK Time. .
Turkey 0-2 Wales
An energetic start saw Wales create the opening chance as Aaron Ramsey fired a sixth minute shot upon goal, only to find Ugurcan Cakir’s arms.
Turkey responded three minutes later as Cengiz Under found Burak Yilmaz to shoot but Chris Mepham deflected his shot wide, with the resulting corner coming to nothing.
Ramsey meanwhile further chances go begging whilst Daniel James wasted some shots too, although his 22nd minute cross was almost deflected into the bottom right corner for an own goal by Kaan Ayhan until Cakir saved the ball.
Ayhan then almost atoned for his near own goal seven minutes later from a corner but Joe Morrell cleared off the line, with Caglar Soyuncu’s header from the second corner also cleared.
Wakes however got their reward for a strong first-half display in the 42nd minute as Gareth Bale played an overhead direct cross for Ramsey to chest down, with the midfielder rifling low across goal into the bottom left corner to put the Welsh Dragons ahead at half-time.
Hakan Calhanoglu almost restored parity five minutes after the restart after playing an one-two but his shot was saved by Danny Ward.
Ramsey two minutes later wasted two chances in the same minute for Wales, with Yilmaz then flicking a potential equaliser over the bar just two further minutes afterwards as Ayhan flicked down a headed pass down for the striker.
Ramsey and Yilmaz then wasted chances at opposite ends in the 58th minute before Mehmet Zeki Celik fouled Bale on the hour mark, only for the Real Madrid winger to fire the resulting penalty over the bar then flick a shot wide moments later from a poor backpass to Cakir which he intercepted.
Under cut inside from his right in the 64th minute to find Yilmaz who could only fire wide which summed up much of the last 30 minutes, as Turkey pushed for an equaliser but Wales relentlessly dug deep defensively for much of the closing stages.
Kieffer Moore eventually won a late Welsh corner in the fifth minute of injury time with Harry Wilson playing the set piece short to Bale, who cut in along the goal line and pulled back for Connor Roberts to slot in to wrap up victory.
Italy 3-0 Switzerland
Switzerland won the first opportunity of the match with a first minute foul despite the resulting free-kick ultimately coming to nothing.
Italy soon began to hit their high tempo stride as Lorenzo Insigne’s sixth minute cross to Domenico Berardi was cleared, with Ciro Immobile then heading over from Leonardo Spinazzola’s 11th minute cross.
Giorgio Chiellini saw a 18th minute strike from a corner ruled offside by VAR after the delivery bounced down off his arm for him to smash in from close range.
Eight minutes later, Berardi broke up the right and on the pullback towards Insigne instead found Manuel Locatelli to fire in from close range to put Italy ahead.
Insigne, Berardi and Spinazzola then all saw late first half chances go begging as Switzerland failed to break the hosts down defensively to restore parity at half-time.
Switzerland opted to make a half-time change as Haris Seferovic was substituted for Mario Gavranovic , which initially paid dividends with an early free-kick after Xherdan Shaqiri’s curled shot was blocked but corner was headed wide by Manuel Akanji.
Locatelli soon afterwards got his brace for Italy as he fired in on his left foot across into bottom right corner from Nicolo Barella’s pass to put the hosts 2-0 up in the 52nd minute.
Italy proceeded to cruise to victory as Switzerland struggled to create many clear-cut opportunities, with Immobile ultimately ensuring of victory and a tenth consecutive clean sheet as he smashed in their third goal in the 89th minute to seal qualification for the Last 16.
Italy consequently sit top of Group A from Wales who they face on Sunday, whilst Switzerland and Turkey look set to scrap over third in Baku, Azerbaijan.
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