Only hours after Croatia and Spain put on the performance of the tournament, Switzerland and France almost did the better of them with their encounter in the round of 16.
The World Champions were eliminated on penalties 5-4, with Kylian Mbappe being denied the vital spot kick by Yann Sommer, who dived the right side. The match was entertaining from start to finish, and resulted in the odds-on favourites being eliminated in the very first round of the knockout stages.
Haris Seferovic gave the Swiss the lead 15 minutes into the game, as the French defense looked shaky in the early stages. The second half saw Ricardo Rodriguez denied a penalty by Hugo Lloris, and 90 seconds later, Karim Benzema showed his world class quality on the ball, and equalised for France even though the pass was a bit mishit.
He doubled up in two minutes, heading home from very close range by converting a chipped ball from Antoine Griezmann. At 75 minutes, Paul Pogba curled in an absolute beauty from outside the box to make it 3-1 for the World Cup winners. However, the drama was yet to fully unfold.
France blew a 3-1 lead with 15 minutes to go!👀#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/9k73WtliLU
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) June 28, 2021
Haris Seferovic headed home for a second time 10 minutes before time to make it 3-2, and a cool and composed finish from Mario Gavranovic inspired the second 3-3 scoreline of the evening at full-time as the two teams headed into extra-time.
Tired legs prevailed, despite making numerous substitutions, and the match ultimately had to be decided on penalties. Switzerland scored all of their chances, and the decisive penalty was missed by Mbappe to send the favourites packing.
Switzerland will face Spain in the quarter-finals of the Euros, setting up another thrilling encounter for a spot in the last four.
