• Tedesco claims he had two minutes for pre-match talk
• Coach is ‘so proud’ despite team being booed by own fans

The Belgium head coach, Domenico Tedesco, condemned the local organisation after a 0-0 draw against Ukraine on Wednesday, a result which secured qualification for a tie against France in the last 16.

“We arrived at the stadium in circumstances I never saw before,” Tedesco said. “It took one hour to come from the hotel with a police escort. The road was completely free, but they slowed down to 20-25km/h. Every traffic light was red. I had two minutes to make a preparation talk and we had to reduce the warmup. It’s unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable …”

At one end of the ground, one team stood, exhausted, in the penalty area in front of their fans and were warmly applauded. At the other, their opponents could barely approach the box before being driven back by the fury of their support. The oddity was, it was Ukraine who had gone out who were celebrated, and Belgium who had gone through who were booed and jeered to such an extent that Kevin De Bruyne told the players to go to the dressing room.

In the end, Ukraine just didn’t have the energy or the guile. They will feel unfortunate to have been eliminated from the Euros having picked up four points, the same as every other side in the group, more than Denmark who qualified in second and various third-placed teams. But in the final minutes, when it became apparent that they would need a goal after all, they had nothing.