The Chelsea star, whose move to the London club in 2020 for a fee of over £250,000 remains a world record transfer fee for the women’s game, had the pace and touch to get behind Spain four times in the first half and simply needed more support in numbers. When she did, in the form of Karen Holmgaard, and let a neat through ball slip her way, it took too long for the Turbine Potsdam midfielder to shoot and was knocked down.
But the threat remained and the 2017 runner-up – who had kept their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive with a slim 1-0 win over Finland thanks to a late header from Harder in Milton Keynes – seemed increasingly capable of arguably to achieve the victory. biggest shock of the tournament so far.
With just over 15 minutes to go, and Harder looking increasingly isolated, the Danes finally started gambling. Afghanistan-born former Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain forward Nadia Nadim was brought in to assist Harder in the attack, along with former Aston Villa striker Stine Larsen, and the match immediately became much more extensive.
Harder collected an excellent diagonal ball superbly and cut the ball back for the onrushing Nadim, who turned in and fired the best try of the game into the top corner, but a strong save from Barcelona shot stop Sandra Panos was denied. That turned out to be crucial.
On the other hand, unmarked substitute Cardona had the last laugh to win a poor match and the result saw Spain reach the quarter-finals for the third time in a row, continuing their record of never being knocked out in the group stage of this match. competition when they have qualified for the tournament finals. But they will know they need to improve if they are to reach their first major international semifinal in 25 years.
Match details
Denmark: (5-4-1): Christensen; Thomsen, Pedersen, Boye Sörensen, Sevecke, Veje; Madsen, Holmgaard, Junge, Moller Kuhl; more difficult Subs not used: Thrige, Troelsgaard, Holmgaard, Nadim, Larsen, Bredgaard, Svane, Gewitz, Bruun, Gejl Jansen, Worsoe, Svada
Yellow cards: No
Spain (4-3-3): cloths; Batlle, Paredes, Leon, Ouahabi (Carmona, 45); Bonmati, Guijarro, Mariona; S Garcia (Cardona, 45), L Garcia (Gonzalez, 45), Del Castillo Subs not used: Nunez, Aleixandri, Andres, Guerrero, Sarriegi, Abelleira, Pereira, Pina, Rodriguez Rivero
Yellow cards: Ouahabi
Referee: Rebecca Welch (England)
Presence: 16,041