Euro 2020 matchday 25: Mason Mount looked at ‘bigger picture’ during isolation

England midfielder Mason Mount admits he had to look at the “bigger picture” when he was forced to isolate under Covid-19 protocols.

The 22-year-old and Ben Chilwell had to be separated from the rest of the squad after their contact with their fellow Chelsea team-mate Billy Gilmour after the Scotland midfielder tested positive for coronavirus following their group game encounter.

Mount missed two matches, one as he was absent and the Germany last-16 victory as he had only just returned to the squad, but he was back in the team for Saturday’s last-eight win over Ukraine.

“It’s been frustrating. We had to stay strong, look at the bigger picture and focus on when we could come out of the isolation and what we can do.

“We did that, we stayed strong and worked hard every day and for me to come out, play and the performance we put on was brilliant.

“All that hard work we’ve been doing obviously pays off.”

Jordan the Pick of England’s defensive success

England have yet to concede at the tournament and that is largely due to the performance of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and the defence in front of him.

However, former goalkeeper David James felt the form of Pickford, who has looked good since the second half of the Premier League season after a shaky first half, was crucial.

“Jordan Pickford in goal hasn’t put a foot wrong with regards to costing us any chances against,” he told Sky Sports.

“He made a big save early on in the game (against Ukraine) and he’s got to be buzzing at the moment.

“But what I do like – and I think this is the key thing, the way Gareth talks about this – this isn’t about individual success, this is about a collective and the defence in front of Jordan, Jordan behind the defence, the whole team just looks so solid.”

Quote of the day

Danes pushing for greater representation

Politicians for various parties in Denmark have joined forces to call for the Danish Government to put pressure on their UK counterparts to allow more fans to go to Wembley on Wednesday.

Coronavirus restrictions mean fans from Denmark will not be able to travel for the country’s first semi-final since they won the tournament in 1992 as last-minute replacements.

The Danish Football Association have reduced their allocation to 5,000 for the 60,000-ticket event as only local supporters will be able to attend.

Their head of commercial activities Ronnie Hansen has sounded the clarion call for all UK-based fans to mobilise.

“Now ALL Danes living in England must enter the fight!” Hansen wrote on Twitter.

“Do you know a Dane in England or Scotland? They must carry the torch on from the world’s best supporters.

“There are many tickets for Danes in the UK and they have to go AMOK!!”

But that is not enough for some in Denmark.

“Now the government simply has to pull itself together. It is historic that Denmark has reached the semi-finals of the European Championship,” the Liberal Party’s culture spokesman Jan E Jorgensen told Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

Danish People’s Party’s group chairman Peter Skaarup added: “I think the government should put maximum pressure on Britain.

“It can not fit that we can not have fans for one of the biggest sporting events for Denmark in recent times.”

Post of the day

Stat attack

The race for the Golden Boot may remain a sideshow to the main event with England tantalisingly close to winning a tournament on home soil but UEFA’s statisticians appear to have forgotten one key player.

Raheem Sterling and Denmark’s Kasper Dolberg have been highlighted as the main threats to Cristiano Ronaldo and Patrick Schick’s five goals but Harry Kane, who also took his tally to three after a double against Ukraine, is missing off the list despite being the most likely of all of them to challenge the leading scorers.

Up next

Italy v Spain (semi-final, July 6, Wembley, 2000 BST)
England v Denmark (semi-final, July 7, Wembley, 2000 BST)