There were twenty-five seconds remaining when at last the nerves fell away and they knew. Marta Cardona leapt at the far post to meet Olga Carmona’s cross, guiding a header into the net and Spain into the quarter-final, substitutes and staff liberated and streaming from the bench to greet her. It had been edgy and far from easy but they had done it, setting up a meeting with England. Denmark, ultimately, had not quite done enough. Lars Søndergaard’s side, led by Pernille Harder, had sought their moment, the single goal they needed to go through, but it was Spain that eventually got it.
The Danish manager had admitted that his side would have less of the ball, prepared to protect and counter. There had been times when it looked like the plan might pay off, especially in the first half and it took a superb late save by Sandra Paños, whose mistake had been so costly against Germany, to see Spain through. In the end though Denmark fell short, wondering what might have been.
