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The Rasmus: Mehmen with the song "Jezebel".
Photo: Alessandro Di Marco/EPA
In the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, another ten countries qualified for the final round on Saturday with 25 participants.
Next came the Finnish band The Rasmus with the song "Jezebel" on Thursday evening at the 66th edition of the international music competition in the northern Italian city of Turin.
The group is best known for their 2003 hit "In the Shadows."
"I thought, thank God, there's a rock band in the final," said frontman Lauri Ylönen after the show.
Poland with Ochman and the ballad »River« also reached the finals.
Above all, the musician thanked his family.
"My grandpa, who was an opera singer, was a great inspiration to me," he said.
After reaching the final, Belgian Jérémie Makiese ("Miss You") is building on his sporting experience: "I'm a footballer and in football we have to be mentally strong.
I'm just bringing that into this competition," he said.
Ukraine as a favourite
Cornelia Jakobs' rocking, tube-like sung »Hold Me Closer« from Sweden also made it into the final, as did the contributions from Estonia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Australia.
Australia has been allowed to take part in the competition as a non-European country since 2015 because it is a member of the European Broadcasting Union.
Malta, Cyprus and Israel, among others, were eliminated after this semi-final.
This establishes the 25 finalists for the Grand Final.
How many points the 20 countries received from the two semi-finals was not announced in order not to influence the voting for the final.
Already in the first semi-final, Ukraine qualified for the final with the Kalush Orchestra.
The band is the favorite for overall victory this year.
The bookmakers are currently expecting the group around rapper Oleh Psjuk to be number one with their song "Stefania".
The six men assume that in the event of a victory, the next edition of the Grand Prix would be held in the country currently affected by the Russian war of aggression.
The ESC organizers do not want to speculate about this possible scenario.
Good chances for Great Britain, Spain, Italy and Sweden
Germany will perform at the finale with Malik Harris and »Rockstars«.
The 24-year-old Bavarian was already a finalist because the largest sponsors, such as the Federal Republic, are set for the final without qualifying.
The song is currently expected to be in the lower ranks.
Harris sings about childhood, when everyone was still little "rock stars" and life brought fewer problems.
The other four countries of the so-called Big Five France, Spain, Italy and Great Britain are also seeded directly for the final.
Looking at the betting providers, the British, Spanish and Italian entries should have a chance of making it to the top ranks.
The Swede Jakobs is also highly regarded.
Dress rehearsals for the show on Saturday will continue at the ESC on Friday.
The show will be hosted by Italian Grammy winner Laura Pausini and British singer Mika, best known for his 2007 hit Grace Kelly.
bbr/dpa/AFP