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England face Slovakia at Euro 2024 this evening. (Image: GETTY/MAIL)
England look to dust off the cobwebs of an underwhelming group stage by discovering Euro 2024-winning form in this evening's last-16 clash against Slovakia. Gareth Southgate's side need a convincing performance to go with a win in Gelsenkirchen after receiving ruthless criticism for their three Group C displays.
England finished above Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia but only won one of their three matches - a 1-0 opener against the latter - and managed just two goals.
The Three Lions are on the favourable side of the draw; it is impossible to meet France, Portugal, Spain or Germany until the final.
Victory against Slovakia would book a quarter-final date against Switzerland, who reached the last eight for the second successive European Championships by beating Italy 2-0 in Berlin on Saturday.
Later in the night, host nation Germany triumphed over Denmark by the same scoreline in a match disrupted by adverse weather conditions in Dortmund.
After England face Slovakia, Spain, who won all three of their group games without conceding, clash with Georgia, who defeated Portugal 2-0 last time out.
Express Sport provides all the latest news updates from Euro 2024 as England's knockout campaign commences.
The Three Lions are among the favourites to win this summer's Euro 2024 tournament and you can get your hands on the brand new Nike home and away kits before the first whistle.
In the second last-16 encounter of the day, Spain are being held by Georgia 1-1 at the interval.
The underdogs took the lead after 18 minutes after Robin Le Normand turned the ball into his own net, with Manchester City midfielder Rodri bagging an equaliser six minutes before the break.
What a sensational few minutes in Germany. England have now taken a 2-1 lead as Harry Kane heads the ball home from close range after Slovakia fail to deal with a free-kick.
The Bayern Munich man has been quiet all afternoon but pops up with a goal when his country need it.
What an end to the 90 minutes in Gelsenkirchen as Jude Bellingham grabs a breathtaking equaliser in the 95th minute.
The attacker, who barely had a sniff of the ball during the first 90 minutes, launches a spectacular bicycle kick into the corner of the net to save England. The whistle has blown and it’s finished 1-1 after 90 minutes. We’re now set for another 30 minutes of extra time.
England need to kick on after a dismal showing thus far.
England star Jude Bellingham scored a breathtaking equaliser against Slovakia (Image: GETTY)
England thought they had drawn level in the early stages of the second half as Phil Foden tapped the ball home from close range after being teed-up by Kieran Trippier.
But the Manchester City winger moved ahead of Trippier in tehe build-up and was offside when the ball was played across. Slovakia still lead 1-0 but the Three Lions have improved since the interval, despite making no changes.
England are 1-0 down to Slovakia at half-time. It's been another terrible display from the Three Lions and Gareth Southgate has 45 minutes to save his reign as manager.
The unthinkable has happened as Slovakia have taken the lead midway through the first half.
The Three Lions fail to deal with a long ball forward, and the ball is eventually played through to Ivan Schranz, who fires his shot beyond Jordan Pickford.
This huge last-16 encounter between England and Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen is now underway and the Three Lions will be looking for a strong start to settle their nerves. Here we go…
Kick-off is moments away at Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen and Three Lions fans have packed into the stadium.
Gareth Southgate's side are overwhelming favourites to win the last-16 encounter but will need to improve on their performances from the group stages if they are to keep their fans happy this afternoon.
England will take on Slovakia at Euro 2024 (Image: GETTY)
Former England coach Gary Neville has claimed England players will be relieved to have qualified for the Euro 2024 knockout stages despite insiting the Three Lions had the easiest group of the tournament.
“It sounds really negative but there’s an element of relief when you get out of the group," Neville told ITV ahead of the match. "This group believe they should be in semi-finals and finals but they’ll realise the tournament starts for them now.”
So, three hours until kick-off in Gelsenkirchen... how are the nerves, England fans?
The Three Lions haven't failed to reach the quarter-finals in Gareth Southgate's three previous tournaments as manager.
The last exit before that stage was... that... Iceland defeat in the Euro 2016 round of 16. A repeat of that would be disastrous tonight.
Slovakia are stronger opposition but England's team is undoubtedly superior to Roy Hodgson's eight years ago.
This is a team, without question, good enough to lift the trophy this summer. But after an underwhelming group stage, plenty of improvement is required to get there.
The performance is almost just as important as the result against Slovakia.
Bukayo Saka has shut down suggestions that England can use him to solve their left-back dilemma.
Ian Wright is among the pundits to have claimed that Gareth Southgate could shift Saka into defence to accommodate Cole Palmer.
But Saka thinks differently, telling BBC 5 Live: "No, obviously I love Ian Wright and he says so many great things about me but I don’t think putting me out of position is the solution.
"But at the end of the day, I think we can we can talk about this but it’s in Gareth’s hands so we will just have to trust whoever Gareth selects on the day.”
Georgia made history by reaching the Euro 2024 knockout stages in their first-ever international tournament, beating Portugal 2-0 to qualify from Group F.
Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili rewarded the national team for their round-of-16 appearance with a £7.9million reward.
And he has announced he will double that figure if his country cause the ultimate surprise by defeating another tournament favourite, Spain, tonight.
Making it to the quarter-finals will be enough incentive in itself, I think...
Referee Michael Oliver took unprecedented action during Germany's 2-0 win against Denmark by bringing both sets of players off the pitch due to thunder and lighting in Dortmund.
Lightning bolts were spotted directly above the Westfalenstadion in scary scenes as rain cannoned down into the stands.
Some viewers were baffled by the decision to suspend the round of 16 match for 25 minutes. However, Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand put things into perspective with a reminder of Jonathan Richter's tragic story.
A then-24-year-old Richter was struck by lightning during a training game for Nordsjaelland - who Hjulmand coached at the time - in 2009.
After a 10-day induced coma and a prolonged stint in an intensive care unit, Richter had to have the bottom of his left leg amputated, ending his football career.
Lightning disrupted Germany vs Denmark. (Image: GETTY)
England manager Gareth Southgate has claimed the last-16 match against Slovakia is an opportunity for his side to improve.
Following an underwhelming group stage, England will be expected to put in a performance of a team capable of winning Euro 2024.
Southgate said: "The fact is you go into a different mental state [in the knockout stage].
"Everybody knows that knockout football is jeopardy. Everybody knows that on a given day, an opponent can make it really tough for you.
"You know the quality of the opposition left is high and so it changes the mindset. It is about 'how far can we go?' We are trying to achieve something exceptional.
"But it is a step at a time and tomorrow is a chance to improve aspects of our game, to show composure in moments.
"The game will take us in different directions at different moments and you've got to be able to respond and react in the right way in all of those moments.
"We have thrived in those challenges in the past and we're looking forward to tomorrow."
Ange Postecoglou ripped into VAR after Germany's controversial penalty against Denmark in Saturday's 2-0 Euro 2024 last-16 win in Dortmund.
The host nation were awarded a spot kick for a Joachim Andersen handball from point-blank range moments after his opener was ruled out because a toe was offside.
And the Tottenham head coach took issue with VAR's latest interference in the game, defending referee Michael Oliver in the same breath.
"That's the issue. Michael Oliver is not making this decision. That's been my issue all along. He saw the action, he deemed it wasn't necessary to be a penalty. That's my problem," Postecoglou told ITV.
"If I hear one more person say they're [VAR] not re-refereeing the game, I will blow up. Seriously, that is exactly what they do. That is not why we brought in technology for that decision.
"That decision, to me, is quite an easy one. If that wasn't paid [given], we wouldn't be talking about it tomorrow. This is not on Michael Oliver.
"We're criticising the technology, which is what I've criticised consistently. I fully back the referee. If he didn't pay that [give that], if he did pay that, we'd say 'okay'. Technology is supposed to be definitive."
\ud83d\udde8\ufe0f "If I hear one more person saying that they're [VAR] not re-refereeing the game, I will blow up" - Ange Postecoglou
The panel explain and discuss the handball decision which led to Germany's opening goal...
Welcome to Express Sport's coverage of your Sunday at Euro 2024, and it's a big one...
England face off against Slovakia in the round of 16 before Spain clash with Georgia.
Stay tuned for all the build-up and regular news updates from Germany as Gareth Southgate's side begin their knockout campaign.
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