’Now we take Wales’ – Danish media celebrates ‘magical’ night against Russia

There was a feeling of disbelief in Denmark on Tuesday morning. Had it really happened? Had the magical night that the Denmark head coach, Kasper Hjulmand, had wished for just been a dream?

No, it was true. Nine days after the horrors of Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest in the opening game of Euro 2020 Denmark had beaten Russia 4-1 to qualify for the last 16 of the tournament. And all around the country there was a clean-up operation in progress to prove it.

Monday night was a release for many Danes. Sixteen months of a pandemic and the recent fear they have felt over Eriksen’s health poured out in an emotional outcry at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium, where the game was played, but also in fan zones and sitting rooms across the country. Beers were thrown in the air, strangers were hugged and there was a genuine sense of togetherness. Party like it’s 2019 you say? Oh yes.

The national papers rejoiced in what Hjulmand and his team had managed to do. Now let’s take Wales, wrote Ekstrabladet on their sports front page, referring to the last-16 game on Saturday against Wales in Amsterdam.

Several papers looked back to a game in 1985 involving Michael Laudrup and Preben Elkjær, when the Soviet Union were beaten 4-2. “Fire stød i bamsen” (Four hits to the [Russian] bear), was the headline then and Ekstrabladet repurposed it for Tuesday morning: “Fire stød i bamsen – igen.”

There were also comparisons between Laudrup, who was 21 then, and the scorer of Denmark’s first goal, Mikkel Damsgaard, who will turn 21 in two weeks.

“A little bit of magic has never hurt anyone and Hjulmand got what he wanted,” wrote Michael Sten Jensen for public broadcasting channel DR. “It was a magical night at Parken. Wands, rabbits in top hats, three points and a ticket to further participation in the tournament.

“It was 10.49pm, when the Euros could have ended before it really had begun, [that] Denmark secured a 4-1 win over Russia. The shock from last weekend’s opening game against Finland has at last subsided. It was like a winter bath for the people’s souls. We are not going home, we are going on, as Hjulmand had said before the game.”

The Danish team is going to Amsterdam but, as the hangovers subsided in Copenhagen and the rest of the country, the attempts to get to the city for the game against Wales had only just begun. The Netherlands see Denmark as a high-risk country although, remarkably, the health office announced that only 29 Covid cases had been detected in connection with the three games at Parken.

Wales fans have been told not to travel but on Tuesday Erik Brogger, director of Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Citizen Service, said Danish fans could avoid quarantine in the Netherlands if they entered and left the country within 12 hours. “It should be technically possible, but you have to plan it pretty carefully,” Brogger told Politiken. “For most people it will probably be better to stay at home. We encourage you to watch the match at home.”

The news will not go down well in Wales with Denmark likely to have an advantage if several thousand of their fans can travel. Whether the Dutch authorities will allow that, however, remains to be seen.

Related: Denmark’s joy: heroic win seals Euros progress – in pictures

For Hjulmand the game against Russia was extremely emotional. The 49-year-old coach went around the stadium blowing kisses to all four stands, and later revealed that he had worn a bracelet in honour of Eriksen during the game.

“I must admit that I have never worn jewellery in my life,” he told TV3+. “There is a little football there in the middle and it is Christian who is here with me. I had him with me all the way. I think about him a lot and he is – as I have always said – the heart of our team and we were fighting on for him today. He is a great inspiration to us.”

It was a night that will never be forgotten. The Danish prince Christian, for one, had swapped his smart clothes from the previous games to a Denmark shirt with No 10 – Christian Eriksen’s number – on it. It was that kind of evening.