Euro 2020: Wales vs Denmark, key battles and projected outcome

Gareth Bale will lead out his Wales' compatriots to battle Denmark for a place in the quarter finals. How will that pan out? (Photo credit: UEFA.com)

Wales vs Denmark
Johan Cruyff Arena
17:00hrs

If you love football and have some human feelings, you’d celebrate with Denmark when against all odds, they beat Russia emphatically and qualified for the Round of 16 and will now face a Gareth Bale inspired Wales at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Let’s talk about Wales, shall we? One would look at their group that had Italy, Switzerland and Turkey and wonder how they’d even finish third.

But they were decisive against Turkey and fought out a draw from the jaws of defeat against Switzerland, with a superior goal difference, they finished second.

Wales have built on their compact structure and they deserve lots of credits, the form of Aaron Ramsey is up for debate but his fine shift against Turkey earned them the rights to play Denmark as the seeded team and will now hope to go one better than they did in 2016.

Denmark are highly rated, tenth in the world but the drama surrounding their opening game led to a 1-0 shock loss to Finland.

A result that was followed up by another loss as expected to Belgium, their heroics against Russia paid deserved tribute to Christian Eriksen, we can’t speak less of that.

On paper, you can’t tell where this is headed, both sides have reasons to go for this and it will certainly be a mouthwatering affair, end to end, man for man and tactics for tactics, we’re in for a treat.

Key men to watch

Goes without saying that Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey will lead Wales but their defensive structure will be the ground that will determine how they’ll fare in the game, depending on Denmark’s approach.

Speaking of Denmark’s approach, there’s no Eriksen so creativity has to come from the flanks, Wales will not commit the kind of errors Russia committed so they will have to buckle up.

Youssouf Poulson and Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite will lead the attack, that in a way is their strength because their movement can be deceptive.

Kasper Schmeichel has been unlucky, to be honest, the goals he has conceded weren’t really his fault but it is what it is…

Where will this swing, one can’t honestly tell, but stats can help.

Denmark doesn’t concede so much and Wales don’t score much, under 3.5 goals most definitely, there are fast-paced wingers so we expect at least over 7.5 corners.