Euro 2020: Switzerland eliminates the World Cup champions 5-4 on penalties in a six-goal thriller
Image courtesy: twitter/euro2020
Switzerland eliminated France in a six-goal thriller match that headed into extra time and the penalty shootouts where they made all of their penalty shots vs Didier Deshchamps’ team and sealed the victory. They will now face Luis Enrique’s Spain in the quarter-finals on Friday.
SCENES. 🇨🇭#EURO2020 https://t.co/6fn68S95G3 pic.twitter.com/NQipObKHM1
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 28, 2021
France is out of the European Championship after Kylian Mbappe missed the penalty kick in the shootout against Switzerland who shot all the penalties and won 5-4 against the World Cup champions after a 3-3 draw.
What a game. What a tournament. What a day. What a Sommer.
— Gary Lineker 💙 (@GaryLineker) June 28, 2021
The first Euro 2020 round of 16 fixture got decided on penalties and the third that went into the extra time. Haris Seferovic gave an early lead to the Swiss in the first half at the 15th minute and the match ended 1-0 in favour for their side at half-time.
Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema at the second half scored a brace, one at minute 57′ and equalised for France and another just two minutes after his equaliser, at 59th minute and they were up by 2-1 followed by Paul Pogba’s strike at 75th minute who made 3-1 with his right footed shot from 20 meters of a distance, but the outcome of the match was not in favour for Deshchamps’ France as it looked like that time.
Seferovic with a brace scored another header for Switzerland at the 81st minute followed by Mario Gavranović who made it a 3-3 draw just before the full-time whistle, at minute 90′ in Bucharest.
The game went into the extra time and penalty shootouts and Switzerland with the victory reached the quarter-final of a major tournament for the first time in 67 years.
🎉 Jubilation! 🇨🇭
Switzerland = first-ever EURO knockout win ✅@nati_sfv_asf | #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/SNPv4PHlyH
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 29, 2021
Granit Xhaka was rewarded as the Star of the Match for his impressive midfield.
“To come back like this, to show this spirit, bro show this character, I am very proud to be part of this team,” said Xhaka.
Impressive in midfield both offensively and defensively 🇨🇭 Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka takes the plaudits 👏@Heineken | #EUROSOTM | #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/sRnXc4yA2Y
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 28, 2021
“It was an emotional match, too emotional”, said the Switzerland coach, Vladimir Petkovic.
Kylian Mbappe apologised for his penalty miss and said, “I am sorry for the penalty. I wanted to help the team but I missed. To relax will be the difficult but it’s, unfortunately, a pitfall in this sport. The fans will be disappointed but even so, I, would thank you for your support and to always have believed in us.”
Kylian Mbappe's response to his penalty miss 💔#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/6kKUQQG9VO
— Goal (@goal) June 29, 2021
France coach, Didier Deschamps while speaking to TF1 said, “Kylian Mbappe is incredibly said, as are all the players, but nobody can be upset with him as he took on the responsibility of taking the fifth penalty. We did what we needed to do in order to go 3-1 up and then we showed weakness. Losing penalties is always cruel for a team.”
