Denmark’s impressive tournament after a traumatic start continued with a deserved 2-1 victory over Czech Republic in a hot Baku, with their goals coming early and late in the first half.Their opponents halved the deficit shortly after the restart and the Danes were wobbling briefly. They steadied themselves and looked as likely to score as the Czechs in what was a mostly uneventful remainder of the second half.Christensen was not very busy in defence with his side mostly in control of the game but when called upon to intervene, he did so with pace and control. He played 81 minutes.

There were not even five minutes on the clock when the Danes took the lead. Thomas Delaney was left in an unbelievable amount of space at a corner by former Chelsea man Tomas Kalas and the rest of the Czech defence. The Borussia Dortmund midfielder did not waste the chance and headed in.Kasper Dolberg and Delaney did not make the most of some more loose defending in the early minutes. Denmark could already have been out of sight.Christensen showed his opponents how to do it with some tight marking at a Czech corner before Kasper Schmeichel had to save from Tomas Holes at the same end midway through the first half.

Before half-time there were two promising Danish counter-attacks which were not fulfilled by the finish, but a deserved 2-0 lead was achieved four minutes before the interval when Dolberg volleyed into the roof of the net from an exquisite cross by Joakim Maehle.The Czechs made substitutions and just as Denmark had at the start of the first half, they scored early in the second – a first-time finish from Patrik Schick, now the joint tournament topscorer with five goals, along with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Christensen got forward to cross dangerously as the Czech Republic could not build on their foothold in the game. There were moments of danger rather than clear-cut opportunities at both ends. Danish substitute Yussuf Poulsen had a clean strike saved, as did Maehle from an angle.Denmark, who were triumphant in this tournament back in 1992, will now play England who thumped Ukraine 4-0 in the day's later game. That semi-final takes place at Wembley on Wednesday.