‘His head’s gone’: Fans point finger at Pickford as England concede first Euro 2020 goal from Damsgaard free-kick

Fans have blamed England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after he conceded their first goal at Euro 2020 as Danish youngster Mikkel Damsgaard scored a vicious free-kick in their semi-final at Wembley.

Danish boy wonder Damsgaard struck from 25 yards out in the 30th minute of the match to open the scoring and silence the majority of the more than 60,000 crowd in London.

The goal was the first England had conceded in their sixth match at Euro 2020 – also ending a new Three Lions shutout record for Pickford which he had set just minutes earlier.

The strike from Damsgaard was his second of the tournament and was the first direct free-kick goal of this summer’s Euros from any team.

It was whipped with venom and swerve, but remarkably some fans were quick to point the finger of blame at Pickford, claiming his positioning had been all wrong.

Not helping matters, Pickford had looked jittery throughout the opening stages, also being let off when sending a throw directly to a Denmark body on the edge of the box and being generally errant with his distribution.

Others defended the Everton keeper though, pointing to a Danish masterstroke for obscuring his view and also citing the menacing swerve and dip that the 21-year-old Damsgaard had added to his strike.

Having conceded their first goal of the tournament, England did at least respond well.

Raheem Sterling drew a superb save from Kasper Schmeichel, before the hosts did get the equalizer when good work down the right from Bukayo Saka forced Danish skipper Simon Kjaer to turn the ball into his own net in the 39th minute.

Denmark skipper Kjaer scored an own goal for the England equalizer. © Reuters

That mean the teams headed into the break at Wembley level as they chased a spot in Sunday’s final against Italy – in what would be a first major final for England since 1966, and a first for Denmark since they won this tournament in 1992.