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DENMARK ARE DREAMING OF ANOTHER FAIRYTALE

By CHRIS WHEELER

KASPER HJULMAND speaks in the kind of serious, measured tone you would probably expect from the manager of Denmark, but his words are those of a true romantic. ‘We are the country of fairytales so who knows?’ says Hjulmand as he looks forward to leading his team at the Euros. ‘We aren’t the favourites but we allow ourselves to dream big. If you don’t believe in that, for sure it will never happen.’ Denmark have more reason than most to believe. After all, they won Euro 92 after getting a late call-up to replace Yugoslavia. Peter Schmeichel and Co are national heroes to this day, although the eight-team, two-division format made it rather easier to win than the current 24-team competition. Schmeichel’s son, Kasper, is in goal now, a Premier League winner with Leicester City who helped his club lift the FA Cup for the first time last month. One would have thought Kasper’s life experiences would have made him a dreamer like his manager Hjulmand. It is not the case. ‘It’s very boring, but take each game as it comes,’ says Schmeichel. ‘That’s the only way we did it when Leicester had our underdog story in the Premier League. Don’t get ahead of yourselves. ‘I’m not going to dismiss our chances or build us up because that would go against what I’ve experienced. The way you enjoy success is to live in the now.’ Has he had any advice from his dad? ‘I’m 34 and I’ve played nearly 700 games in my career and I don’t know how many tournaments, so there’s not really much he can pass on that he hasn’t told me before. ‘My dad isn’t the type to talk

about the past and stuff. My memories come from other people and videos. In Denmark it’s shown every time we go to a major tournament.’ Denmark will be up against Belgium, the world’s No1-ranked team, Russia and Finland. In their favour, all three Group B games will be played in the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. ‘It will be very special — we can’t wait,’ says Christian Eriksen. ‘We’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. ‘I was three months old but anyone in Denmark knows what happened in ’92. It’s been made into a movie series, and all the players from back then are still very famous in Denmark — that’s what it means to win a big tournament like the Euros.’ Former Tottenham star Eriksen will be the creative spark for Denmark, having overcome a difficult start to life at Inter Milan to help his club win their first Serie A title in 11 years. ‘It’s been 15 months with a lot of ups and downs — a rollercoaster,’ said Eriksen. ‘To be there for less than a month and the whole country shut down due to Covid. I got kicked out of my hotel and had to find a place to stay. The options were Romelu Lukaku’s house, the couch at Ashley Young’s place or the training ground, and it ended up being the training ground. ‘The first year I didn’t play as much as I wanted but it didn’t change me. In the end I was lucky the manager looked my way. I was pleased that he let me play and then, of course, to win a trophy was special. Six months before I couldn’t have imagined having as big a part as I ended up having.’

Euro 2020 The Big Kick-Off

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2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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