Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Hojlund bid farewell to Euro 2024 on Saturday evening, as their valiant Denmark team were beaten 2-0 by Germany in Dortmund.

Hojlund was a threat throughout the 80 minutes he spent on the pitch, while Eriksen played the entirety of the round-of-16 tie.The game swung on 60 dramatic seconds after the interval, when the Danes thought they had taken the lead through Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen swiping home following a series of deflections in the Germany box.

However, after an agonising delay, VAR recommended an offside decision against Thomas Delaney in the build-up. Andersen’s agony was instantly compounded at the other end of the pitch, when Germany were awarded a penalty (again via VAR) for his handball.Kai Havertz calmly slotted the resulting spot-kick past Kasper Schmeichel, before Jamal Musiala extended Germany’s advantage with just over 20 minutes remaining.

Rasmus gave his all up front, only to encounter an immovable Manuel Neuer.Denmark were left ruing what path the game might have taken if not for VAR’s interventions, given how well they competed for much of the 90 minutes.Both sides enjoyed strong spells during the first half, but the opening 45 was most notable for a remarkable stoppage, during which the players left the pitch due to dramatic outbursts of thunder, lightning and torrential rain.

When they returned, Hojlund almost gave the Danes the lead when sent through by Delaney’s through ball, only to be denied by the alert Manuel Neuer. At 1-0 in the second half, our no.11 tested Neuer again, but the German stopper again stood firm.

WHAT’S NEXT AT EURO 2024?

Denmark’s exit means Germany join Switzerland – who were 2-0 victors over Italy earlier on Saturday – in the last eight. It also means the count of United players remaining at the tournament is down to five.Two of those Reds (Kobbie Mainoo and Luke Shaw) could be in action on Sunday, when England take on Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen (17:00 BST).Beyond that, Monday’s schedule pits Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot (Portugal) against Slovenia, before Altay Bayindir’s Turkey take on Austria on Tuesday.