Austria reached the knockout stages of the European Championship for the first time as a deserved win over Ukraine secured a last-16 tie against Italy.
Franco Foda’s side produced a courageous display in Bucharest and Christoph Baumgartner’s close-range finish proved enough to earn a Wembley meeting with the Italians on Saturday.
Ukraine – third in Group C – must wait to see if their tally of three points proves enough to reach the knockout stages and in truth their timid display here could have been punished more heavily by Austria.
Marko Arnautovic pushed a shot wide with the goal at his mercy moments before half-time as Austria served up 13 shots on goal before the break, a tally bettered only by Italy’s 14 against Turkey on the opening night of the tournament.
Ukraine in contrast struggled to find any fluidity in their play, with their only threatening effort arriving when Mykola Shaparenko forced a routine diving save from Austrian keeper Daniel Bachmann in the first half.
Meanwhile, Goals from Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum helped the Netherlands beat North Macedonia to make it three wins from three at Euro 2020.
Frank de Boer’s side had already secured top spot in Group C with a game to spare having beaten Ukraine and Austria.
And they produced another dominant performance in front of 12,000 fans at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.
The Dutch opened the scoring with a devastating counter-attack, started by a Daley Blind tackle on the edge of his own box and finished by a first-time Memphis Depay strike from Donyell Malen’s cross.
Depay, playing his first game since his move to Barcelona was announced, now has nine goals and three assists in his past 10 games for the Netherlands.
Wijnaldum wrapped the game up in the second half with two goals in seven minutes, first tapping in from from Depay’s well-placed cross, before Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski’s save from Depay fell nicely for another close-range finish from the Netherlands captain.
The Dutch will travel to Budapest for their last-16 tie, where they will face the third-placed finisher from Group D, E or F on 27 June.
Source: BBC
