Meanwhile, the Swiss subs and players flooded onto the field to congratulate Sommer and cavort in front of their fans behind the goal. In keeping with contemporary demands for performative humility from public figures, Mbappe felt obliged to make a suitably apologetic statement on his Twitter account. “It is very difficult to turn the page,” wrote the young Frenchman, or his agent or some other handler. “I am sorry for this penalty. I wanted to help the team but I failed. Finding sleep will be difficult.”

On Friday the Swiss were also involved in the second penalty shootout of the tournament. This time the shoe was on the other foot. They made a balls of it. Their five penalty takers had been immaculate against France. Against Spain in Saint Petersburg their mojo mysteriously evaporated. Three of the five who’d shown ice-cool composure in Bucharest malfunctioned this time round.

Who knows what ghosts were in their heads as they placed the football on the penalty spot and backed away. Maybe it was simply the fact that this was a quarter-final. In theory they should have been confident, having come through the wringer so smoothly four days earlier. But it obviously counted for nothing. Or maybe it counted for a lot, in the sense that they had used up all their nerves the first time round. There was nothing left but fear the second time round.

The irony was that Spain had gifted them the all-important head start. Sergio Busquets, the Spanish captain and veteran, won the toss and elected to take the first kick, presumably as planned in agreement with his manager and colleagues.

One of the cheap thrills for viewers of this sadistic ritual is the search for vulnerability in the handpicked patsy. As he trudges up to the penalty spot we scan his face and body language for the signs of metaphorical loose bowels. Any clues in his run-up? We are reading the runes for failure. And Busquets had a long, long time to think about his fate because the referee, Michael Oliver, delayed proceedings for 30 seconds with a lecture to both goalkeepers about the rules. It seemed unnecessarily officious.

Busquets all the time was waiting in the penalty area on his own. It did not augur well. Maybe the delay had nothing to do with it but he missed anyway, striking the butt of the post. Advantage Switzerland.

Mario Gavranovic had been their first penalty taker against France and duly stepped up this time too. His finish was impressively emphatic. The pressure was on Dani Olmo to get the Spanish up and running. Top left corner, no problemo.

Then came the Swiss meltdown. Fabian Schar, Manuel Akanji and Ruben Vargas had all been impeccable against France. One by one they fell like dominoes here. In the split second between the run-up and the strike, there isn’t really time to discern some sort of harbinger of the result. One is just about to form an impression as the action happens. So it is probably hindsight to say that Schar’s run-up did not look convincing.

He seemed almost to walk into the shot, like it was a portent of the doubt in his mind. Kenny Cunningham on RTÉ said the Newcastle man was looking at the goalkeeper as he struck the ball. The goalkeeper, Unai Simon, dived to his right and saved. But the frailty was now spreading like a contagion. Up stepped Spain’s Manchester City midfielder, Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante — Rodri to his friends — to present a very saveable shot. Five kicks, three misses. Next for shaving, Akanji of Borussia Dortmund.

Again, as with Busquets, the preliminaries, seemed ominous. Then again, just about every tiny sign seems ominous in these circumstances. But for some reason the football was marooned over on the right side of the pitch, a long way from the penalty spot. “Akanji has to go and fetch the ball from no-man’s land and make that lonely walk,” said the BBC TV match commentator, with a sort of sardonic empathy.

This lad’s run-up mimicked the fad popularised by Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United. He took that pre-kick hop which will soon be as outdated as the snood and the nasal strip. It has turned the traditional penalty run-up into something resembling the manoeuvre out of children’s hopscotch.

It might be on trend but it is frequently a manifestation of the kicker’s inner fear. Whatever was going on inside Akanji’s head, the choreography suggested he was trembling inside. His strike was feeble; Simon read it and saved. “Why do they keep doing these little stutters?” lamented Danny Murphy on BBC co-commentary. “Awful, awful penalty.”

Six kicks, four misses. Gerard Moreno had missed a penalty in Spain’s group game against Poland. That evidently concentrated his mind. There was no stutter-run from the Villarreal man.

He arrowed his shot into the top corner. Vargas, aged 22, was next up for Switzerland. They were following the exact same selection and order that had worked so well against France. But it was too much for the young fella on this occasion. He blasted it high over the bar. Take your points, the goals will come.

It was left to Mikel Oyarzabal of Real Sociedad to put Spain into the semi-final. Like Akanji he was also made toddle off and fetch the ball and bring it back to the penalty spot. It didn’t bother him. He drilled it low to the corner and the Spanish players duly descended upon him.

The Swiss this time were left to mope around in their sorrow. They didn’t abandon poor Vargas. They surrounded him and tried to console the stricken player. Their manager came over and wrapped him up in a hug. “He’s upset, look,” said Murphy. “Understandably so,” he added, which was nice of him. And we the viewers moved on, having consumed enough pizza with deep-crust voyeurism for the night.