When the Danish national team got together for the first day of their training camp for Euro 2020, coach Kasper Hjulmand made a speech that included showing his players a photograph.

The picture was of Wembley Stadium, and was accompanied by a very simple phrase: “That’s where we want to go.”

England might feel that they are fuelled by destiny as they hunt down a first appearance in a major tournament final since 1966, but for Denmark, too, there is a sense of their progress being pre-ordained – and Wembley is a key part of the narrative.

England’s national stadium was, after all, where it all began for Danish football, when Allan Simonsen’s penalty in 1983 secured the country their first spot at a tournament finals – at England’s expense.

That was the start of the “Danish Dynamite” generation who reached the semi-finals at Euro 84, and qualified for their first World Cup a year later.

Yet distant history is only part of the tale.

More pertinent to Hjulmand’s side were the events in Parken, Copenhagen, just over three weeks ago, when Christian Eriksen, the team’s most famous player and a poster-boy for the tournament, collapsed after suffering a cardiac arrest in the group game against Finland.

Who then could have conceived that Denmark would have responded by romping to a semi-final against England on Wednesday?

Well, the players for a start.

“Wembley was our ambition all along,” said captain Simon Kjaer after the 2-1 quarter-final win against Czech Republic on Saturday.

“But I am not saying the semi-final will be enough for us. We want to go all the way now. These last few weeks have been a roller coaster.

“With what happened to Christian and how we managed to get back on track. It has been extraordinary. The support and this feeling of being a band of brothers.”

The morning before the game against the Czechs, a photo of Eriksen standing at the Tisvilde beach, north of Copenhagen, went viral – the first time he had been pictured outside since his collapse.

For his team-mates, seeing that image would have been inspiration enough, even if it will take time for the trauma they endured on June 12 fully to heal.

While Eriksen was being taken to hospital that day, his team-mates were sitting in the dressing-room. Some cried, many simply sat in stunned silence.

Kjaer, in particular, was devastated. Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite said some prayers.

“Christian lying on the ground motionless was a picture I did not want to run through my head. I wanted it to stop,” he said.

The Danes decided to finish the match, losing 1-0, although many regretted doing so.

“Most of the players could not play to be honest, but they did,” Hjulmand said.

It could so easily have been the prelude to a collapse and swift exit, yet for many the pivotal moment in Denmark’s campaign came two days afterwards, when the country’s football association held a press conference.

“There was a lot of emotions and relief Christian was all right, but the key was when [Danish FA director] Peter Moller said, ‘We have to carry on. We have been looking forward to this tournament and now we have to give something back to the people and fans who have supported the team.’ It was the turning point,” said former Chelsea and Fulham player Bjarne Goldbaek, now a football agent and pundit at German television station ZDF.

Denmark’s form has snowballed since then, Russia beaten 4-1, Wales 4-0 and, finally, the Czechs 2-1 in Baku.

While none would make the visitors favourites against England, Denmark have made a habit of upsetting the odds.

After all, they are the last team to have beaten England at Wembley, winning 1-0 last October.

“I expect a classic of a fight,” Goldbaek said.

“If Denmark avoid being star-struck and deploy their high-intensity pressure like the game versus Belgium it will be a 50-50 game.” 

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]