Soccer-Dominant England set record for touches in opponents' box in semi-final

LONDON (Reuters) - England may have narrowly beaten Denmark 2-1 in extra time in their European Championship semi-final match at Wembley on Wednesday but statistics show the home side dominated proceedings and set a tournament record for touches in the box.

England had 56 touches in Denmark's penalty area - a record since data has been available for the metric since 1980, data firm Opta https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/1413066303674503170 said.

Raheem Sterling made 15 touches in the box as he tormented the Danish defence - three times as many touches as the entire Denmark team had in England's box.

The Manchester City forward put in an electric performance over the 120 minutes and rarely looked tired even in the dying stages, completing nine dribbles past opponents in the match, a record at Euro 2020, according to the data.

Harry Kane (nine) and midfielder Mason Mount (seven) also had more touches in the box than Denmark as England piled on the pressure after going 1-0 down for the first time in the tournament when Mikkel Damsgaard scored from a free kick.

England are looking to win their first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup and play Italy in the final at Wembley on Sunday.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens)