Big Match Feature: Ukraine v England

Form guide (most recent first)

Ukraine: WLWLWW
England: WWDWWW

Ukraine take on England in the UEFA Euro 2020 quarterfinals in Rome on Saturday 3 July at 21:00 CAT.

Match Background

Ukraine's first-ever UEFA European Championship quarterfinal takes them to the Olimpico in Rome, where they facean England side aiming to reach a first semifinal since 1996.

The teams claimed the last two places in the quarterfinals with victories on 29 June, England seeing off old rivalsGermany at Wembley for their first knockout win since Euro 1996 before Ukraine edged past Sweden in extra time atHampden Park.

The winners of this tie will play the Czech Republic or Denmark in the semifinals at Wembley on 7 July.

Previous Meetings

Ukraine have won only one of their seven matches against England (D2 L4), those four defeats including the sides'only previous UEFA European Championship contest with Wayne Rooney scoring the only goal at Donetsk's DonbassArena in the group stage of UEFA Euro 2012 to send England into the quarterfinals and knock Ukraine out. AndriyPyatov and Andriy Yarmolenko played 90 minutes for Ukraine; current coach Andriy Shevchenko was a second-halfsubstitute.

The last two games between the teams ended all square, 1-1 in London and 0-0 in Kyiv in 2014 FIFA World Cupqualifying. Pyatov, Taras Stepanenko, Roman Bezus and Yarmolenko played for Ukraine at the NSC Olimpiyskiy; Kyle Walker is England's sole survivor. Pyatov and Yarmolenko were also in the Ukraine line-up at Wembley.

The teams both won their home fixtures in the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, Shevchenko equalisingPeter Crouch's 29th-minute opener in the 74th minute at Wembley on 1 April 2009 only for John Terry (85) to score alate England winner.

Serhiy Nazarenko scored the only goal in Dnipropetrovsk on 10 October 2009 against an England side who lostgoalkeeper Robert Green to an early red card. Shevchenko, Pyatov and Yarmolenko all played in what remainsUkraine's only victory against England. That is also the last World Cup qualifier lost by England; their record since isW18 D6.

Current England head coach Gareth Southgate and Shevchenko were on opposing sides in the first meetingbetween the teams, a 2-0 England friendly win at Wembley on 31 May 2000.

Euro facts: Ukraine

Having never featured in a UEFA European Championship before co-hosting the 2012 edition with Poland, this is Ukraine's third successive appearance in the final tournament and first qualification for the knockout phase.

A team coached by Mykhailo Fomenko finished bottom of group C at UEFA Euro 2016, losing to Germany,Northern Ireland (both 0-2) and Poland (0-1).

Ukraine's only EURO final tournament goals before UEFA Euro 2020 were both scored by Shevchenko, in a 2-1 defeat of Sweden on matchday one in 2012.

Shevchenko's side finished top of group B in qualifying for UEFA Euro 2020, picking up 20 points from their eight games – three more than holders Portugal.

Ukraine remained unbeaten in qualifying, winning six and drawing two. They were one of five sides to not lose agame in the UEFA Euro 2020 preliminaries, along with Belgium, Italy – who both won all their fixtures – Spain andDenmark.

This is the first time Ukraine have qualified for a Euro directly; after co-hosting in 2012, they beat Slovenia in theplayoffs to reach the 2016 event.

Ukraine finished third in group C at these finals thanks to a 2-1 defeat of North Macedonia in Bucharest on matchday two, in between losses to the Netherlands in Amsterdam (2-3) and Austria in Bucharest (0-1). They finishedfourth in the ranking of third-placed teams across all six groups.

Shevchenko's charges were then dramatic winners against Sweden in the round of 16 at Glasgow's Hampden Park,substitute Artem Dovbyk sealing a 2-1 victory in added time in extra time – his first international goal.

Ukraine's only previous major quarterfinal was a 3-0 defeat to eventual winners Italy at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

This is Ukraine's second game at the Olimpico in Rome, the first a 2-0 loss to Italy in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying inOctober 2006. Their record in Italy is W2 D1 L2; their last visit ended in a 1-1 friendly draw against Italy in October2018 in which Ruslan Malinovskyi scored his first goal for Ukraine.

Euro facts: England

This is England's 10th appearance in the UEFA European Championship; they finished third in 1968 and alsoreached the semifinals on home soil in 1996.

England failed to qualify for the final tournament in 2008, the only time they have missed out since 1984.

A team managed by Roy Hodgson won all 10 qualifiers on the way to UEFA Euro 2016, where they finished second behind Wales in their section after taking five points from three matches, only to be shocked by Iceland in the round of 16 (1-2).

Southgate's side finished top of group A in UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, winning seven of their eight matches (L1) to progress six points ahead of the Czech Republic. A 2-1 loss in Prague was England's sole defeat.

In the group stage of this tournament, England beat Croatia and the Czech Republic both 1-0 either side of a goallessdraw against Scotland. All three games took place at Wembley.

England then overcame Germany 2-0 in the round of 16, again at Wembley, thanks to second-half goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane. It was their first Euro knockout win since beating Spain on penalties in the Euro 1996 quarterfinals, also at Wembley; their only other Euro finals win outside the group stage was a 2-0 defeat of the Soviet Union in the 1968 third-place playoff.

Kane finished as the overall top scorer in the qualifying group stage with 12 goals, including at least one in every game, and also provided five assists. The goal against Germany was his first in a Euro finals.

Sterling was involved in 15 of England's 37 qualifying goals, scoring eight himself with seven assists, and also gotthe winners against Croatia and the Czech Republic before finding the net again against Germany.

The defeat by Iceland in the last 16 at UEFA Euro 2016 is England's only reverse in 15 Euro finals matches (W8 D6), with the quarterfinal eliminations on penalties by Italy (2012) and Portugal (2004) counted as draws.

England have won only two of their five Euro quarterfinals, both against Spain – in 1968 (1-0 h, 2-1 a) and 1996(0-0, 4-2 pens). They lost to West Germany in 1972 (1-3 h, 0-0 a) and against Portugal (2004) and Italy (2012), bothon penalties.

This is England's fifth game at the Olimpico (W2 D1 L1), where they beat the Soviet Union 2-0 in that third-place playoff at the 1968 UEFA European Championship. Their last visit to Rome was a 0-0 draw against Italy in October 1997, a result that booked their place at the following year's World Cup.

England's record in Italy is W8 D9 L6, their last game a 1-1 friendly draw at Turin's Juventus Stadium in March 2015.At the 1990 World Cup, their record was W3 D3 L1. They won one, drew one and lost one at the 1980 UEFA European Championship; at Euro 1968, they lost the semifinal 1-0 to Yugoslavia in Florence before that win against the Soviet Union.

That defeat by Yugoslavia is the only one England have suffered in Italy to neutral opposition in 11 matches (W6 D4), though they were also beaten on penalties by West Germany in Turin after a 1-1 draw in the Italia '90 semifinals.

Links and Trivia

Shevchenko was a Chelsea player between 2006 and 2009, scoring 22 goals in 77 games in all competitions. Hisfirst Premier League goal for the club came in a 2-1 defeat away to Southgate's Middlesbrough on 23 August 2006;that was Southgate's first win as a manager.

Have played in England:

Oleksandr Zinchenko (Manchester City 2016–)

Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham 2018–)

Have played together:

Andriy Yarmolenko & Declan Rice (West Ham 2018–)

Andriy Yarmolenko & Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund 2017/18)

Oleksandr Zinchenko & Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, John Stones (Manchester City 2017–)

Sterling scored Manchester City's third goal in a 6-0 UEFA Champions League group stage win at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on 7 November 2018. Pyatov, Serhiy Kryvtsov, Mykola Matviyenko and Stepanenko all played 90 minutes for the Ukrainian side.

Yarmolenko scored two goals past Jordan Pickford in West Ham's 3-1 Premier League win at Everton on 16September 2018.

Yarmolenko scored in Dynamo Kyiv's 5-2 home win against Everton in the 2014-15 UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg; he also scored in Dortmund's 3-1 away loss against Tottenham in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League group stage, in which Kane scored the second and third goals for the home side.

Kryvtsov played 90 minutes as hosts Ukraine beat England 2-0 in the 2009 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final at the RSC Olimpiyskiy in Donetsk; Walker and Kieran Trippier were in the England side.

Penalty Shootouts

Ukraine won their only previous competitive penalty shootout:

3-0 v Switzerland, 2006 Fifa World Cup round of 16

England's record in nine competitive penalty shoot-outs is W3 L6:

3-4 v West Germany, 1990 Fifa World Cup semifinal

4-2 v Spain, Euro '96 quarterfinal

5-6 v Germany, Euro '96 semifinal

3-4 v Argentina, 1998 Fifa World Cup round of 16

5-6 v Portugal, UEFA Euro 2004 quarterfinal

1-3 v Portugal, 2006 Fifa World Cup quarterfinal

2-4 v Italy, UEFA Euro 2012 quarterfinal

4-3 v Colombia, 2018 Fifa World Cup round of 16

6-5 v Switzerland, 2019 UEFA Nations League third-place playoff

Latest News

Ukraine

Ukraine's last-gasp win against Sweden was their first in a major tournament knockout match, their only previousround of 16 success, at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, having come in a penalty shoot-out after a goalless draw againstSwitzerland.

Oleksandr Zinchenko's opening goal against Sweden – his seventh at international level – was the first Ukraine hadever scored in a tournament knockout phase and the first by a Ukrainian player since Oleh Protasov scored the second goal in the Soviet Union's 2-0 win against Italy in the semifinal of Euro 1988. The first goal in that game was also scored by a Ukrainian, Hennadiy Lytovchenko.

Artem Dovbyk's extra-time winner against Sweden was the striker's first international goal and came just 16 minutes into his tournament debut, which was just his third appearance for Ukraine. He has yet to start a game for his country.

• Although Ukraine's 2-1 victory against North Macedonia on matchday two ended their six-game losing streak at theEURO finals, the subsequent 1-0 defeat by Austria and 2-1 win against Sweden mean they are yet to keep a cleansheet in their ten matches at the tournament.

Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk both scored in three successive internationals before the defeat by Austria – a 4-0 friendly win against Cyprus in Kharkiv and the opening two games at UEFA Euro 2020. They are now the country's joint-top scorers at the Euro finals alongside current head coach Andriy Shevchenko, on twoapiece.

Yarmolenko scored twice against Cyprus before finding the net with a spectacular strike against the Netherlands anda close-range opener against North Macedonia to lift his all-time tally of international goals to 42, six behind Ukraine'srecord scorer Shevchenko.

Yaremchuk's strike against North Macedonia in Bucharest was his tenth international goal, enabling him to becomeonly the eighth Ukrainian goalscorer to reach double figures.

Ukraine's Matchday 1 defeat by the Netherlands in Amsterdam ended the team's six-match unbeaten run. They hadregistered a fourth successive 1-1 draw in the first of their three pre-UEFA Euro 2020 friendlies, against Bahrain inKharkiv on 23 May, but were subsequently victorious against both Northern Ireland – 1-0 in Dnipro – and Cyprus.

There were international debuts from the bench for Heorhii Sudakov and Denys Popov against Bahrain and a firstinternational goal for Oleksandr Zubkov to win the game against Northern Ireland. Zubkov was injured early on in theEuro opener against the Netherlands and has not played since, while Sudakov and Popov are still awaiting theirtournament debut.

Yarmolenko and goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov are veterans of the country's two previous Euro final tournamentcampaigns, the pair having played all six matches in 2012 and 2016, the first three alongside Shevchenko. Only fourother UEFA Euro 2020 squad members have survived from the last squad in France – Zinchenko, Serhiy Sydorchuk, Taras Stepanenko and Oleksandr Karavaev.

Yarmolenko is unique in having started all 10 of Ukraine's Euro finals matches, though he did not complete the winagainst Sweden, leaving the field injured halfway through extra time.

Substitute Artem Besedin was also replaced in extra time with a leg injury sustained in the challenge that led to Sweden's Marcus Danielson being sent off. He has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament.

Dynamo Kyiv won the Ukrainian league double in 2020-21 and there are ten players from that side in Shevchenko's squad – Sydorchuk, Karavaev, Popov, Georgiy Bushchan, Mykola Shaparenko, Illia Zabarnyi, Viktor Tsygankov, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Besedin and Oleksandr Tymchyk.

Other 2020-21 domestic league title winners in the Ukraine squad are Ferencváros's Zubkov, Manchester City's Zinchenko and Club Brugge's Eduard Sobol.

Yarmolenko was one of only three members of Ukraine's UEFA Euro 2020 squad not involved in Uefa clubcompetition in 2020/21 – along with Dovbyk and Yevhen Makarenko. However, his West Ham side have qualified toplay Uefa Europa League group stage football in 2021-22 thanks to their sixth-placed finish in the Premier League.

England

In reaching the quarter-finals without conceding a goal in their opening four matches, England have emulated the feat of Germany at UEFA Euro 2016. No team has ever kept clean sheets in their first five matches at the tournament, although Spain managed five in a row en route to winning UEFA Euro 2012 – a run they extended to a record seven successive games without conceding four years later.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has repeated the feat of Gordon Banks at the 1966 Fifa World Cup, when England were also unbreached in their opening four games at Wembley, before they went on to lift the trophy. Pickford has now gone 606 minutes without conceding an international goal – 115 minutes shy of Banks's all-time England record that incorporated that 1966 triumph.

The 2-0 win against Germany in the round of 16 ended a run of four successive knockout phase defeats for Englandat Euro final tournaments. They lost three successive penalty shoot-outs – against Germany in 1996, Portugal in 2004 and Italy in 2012 – before going down 2-1 to Iceland in the round of 16 five years ago.

Raheem Sterling has scored three of England's four UEFA Euro 2020 goals – winners against Croatia and the Czech Republic and the opener against Germany. Prior to matchday one, he had failed to score in 14 final tournament outings. He now has 17 goals in 65 internationals, including 15 in his last 20, and England have won all 13 matches in which he has scored.

Jude Bellingham's appearance as a substitute against Croatia made him, at the age of 17 years and 349 days, the youngest player ever to feature at a Euro final tournament. However, six days later he lost the record to Poland'sKacper Kozlowski, who was aged 17 years and 246 days when he came off the bench in his team's Matchday 2 draw with Spain.

The 0-0 draw against Scotland on matchday two ended England's seven-game winning streak, the previous three matches having all been won 1-0, including both UEFA Euro 2020 warm-up fixtures in Middlesbrough against Austria and Romania. Bukayo Saka notched his maiden international goal to win the first game, and Marcus Rashford scored the penalty that decided the second, in which Jordan Henderson, seeking his first international goal on his 59th appearance, had a second spot kick saved.

England have kept clean sheets in nine of their last ten matches, conceding just one goal over that period, to JakubModer of Poland in a 2-1 Fifa World Cup qualifying win at Wembley on 31 March.

Ben White made his England debut as a substitute against Austria and was subsequently called up to the UEFA Euro 2020 squad to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, injured late in the same game. Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone kept a clean sheet on his debut against Romania, when White made his first start. During the group stage England brought uncapped goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale into the squad to replace Dean Henderson, who had to withdraw with a hip injury.

None of the seven players who featured in the 2021 Uefa Champions League final – Chelsea trio Ben Chilwell,Reece James and Mason Mount and Manchester City quartet Sterling, Phil Foden, John Stones and Kyle Walker –took part in either of the two Middlesbrough friendlies. Sterling, Stones and Walker were the only three of the sevenused against the Czech Republic and Germany.

In addition to those three European champions at Chelsea and four Premier League title winners at Manchester City,the three foreign-based players in Gareth Southgate's squad all picked up winner's medals in 2020-21, Kieran Trippierhelping Atlético de Madrid to the Spanish Liga title and Jadon Sancho and Bellingham scooping the German DFBPokal with Borussia Dortmund.

Sterling, Stones and Walker are among just six of the UEFA Euro 2020 squad members who were involved at the2016 tournament in France, the others being Henderson, Rashford and current captain Harry Kane.

After seven games at the Euro finals without a goal, Kane broke his duck against Germany and now has one to add to his 15 goals in 13 qualifying appearances. He is England's all-time second-highest scorer in the UEFA European Championship behind Wayne Rooney (20).

Kane won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup, with six goals, where Stones also scored twice and Trippier once. Other survivors from Southgate's squad in Russia, where England finished fourth, are Henderson, Rashford, Sterling, Walker, Pickford and Harry Maguire, who also found the net during the tournament. Sterling and Henderson are two of three survivors from the 2014 World Cup, alongside Luke Shaw.

What they said?

Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine coach: "We have achieved our main goal already and everything else will be a bonus. Probably, there is a different pressure on England. They are seen as favourites but everyone perfectly knows that anything can happen in football.

We are preparing very seriously and we want to surprise England. We can see the great job done by Gareth Southgate. Beyond all doubt, they are one of the best teams at this moment. So we perfectly understand how strong our opponent is and how hard the game will be for us."

Artem Dovbyk, Ukraine striker: "England are the strongest team not just in Europe but in the world as well. They have the best players from the best league. Only if we stick together and fight, we'll be able to win the game against a team like England."

Gareth Southgate, England coach: "Ukraine are a good side. I've been really impressed with what Andriy's done with them. They had a couple of sticky results through the autumn, through the Nations League but they've bounced back, and they got a very good result in France, in the World Cup qualifiers and again this week against Sweden. If we give them space to play, they'll play, and they've got some dangerous forwards. We've achieved one challenge but that's not the Everest we set ourselves. We want to push on."

Harry Maguire, England defender: "We had a great night the other day but we have done nothing. We're fully focused on the game against Ukraine. You've seen in this tournament that if you don't perform to a high level, you lose your spot in the tournament. So, mentally we'll be focused, we'll be ready. Ukraine have got good principles. They like to play, build up. They've got a threat at the top end of the pitch with Yarmolenko so they're a good team with a good structure."

Predicted line-ups

Ukraine: Bushchan; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Kryvtsov, Matviyenko, Zinchenko; Sydorchuk, Stepanenko, Shaparenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk

Out: Besedin, Zubkov

Misses next match if booked: Dovbyk, Shaparenko, Sydorchuk, Yarmolenko

England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Henderson, Phillips; Foden, Mount, Sterling; Kane

Doubtful: Saka (knock)

Misses next match if booked: Foden, Maguire, Phillips, Rice