Following in the footsteps of Spain and Croatia, France and Switzerland played out a thrilling tie which ended 3-3 in regular time. The match went to the penalties, where the world champions were dumped out of the competition after Kylian Mbappe missed his spot-kick.
Goalkeeper Yann Sommer signalled his teammates to wait momentarily, but after receiving the all-clear from the referee, celebrated wildly with his peers and his fans in the stand. Switzerland’s Round-of-16 curse was broken, remarkably, at the expense of the incumbent world champions France. The Swiss dumped Les Bleus out of the UEFA Euro 2020 – a competition they were the heavy favourites to win – after claiming victory in the penalty shootout.
France’s exit itself would’ve been the most remarkable event of the night had it not been for a truly excellent match. Both teams came from behind during regular time and scored some incredible goals before the resulting shootout. Switzerland drew first blood in normal time when they went ahead in the 15th minute. The much-maligned Haris Seferovic brushed aside Clement Lenglet inside the French penalty box before heading the ball past Hugo Lloris.
Switzerland were awarded a penalty in the second half after Steven Zuber was fouled on the line by Benjamin Pavard. However, Lloris saved the subsequent spot-kick from Ricardo Rodriguez, and, as if to compound on the defender’s misery, France went 2-1 up within minutes. Karim Benzema scored both the goals, his first a remarkable sight as the Real Madrid man flicked the ball into his path through his trailing leg before lobbing it over Sommer.
When Paul Pogba scored France’s third, the game looked beyond Switzerland’s reach. However, the Swiss refused to give up, and Seferovic’s 81st-minute goal brought them back to within one of the world champions. Substitute Mario Gavranovic levelled the match in the 90th minute, as he ran onto a defence-splitting pass from Granit Xhaka before firing the ball into the bottom corner.
Both teams took to the pitch for an additional half-hour, but tired legs prevented either of them from taking the initiative. The match, consequently, went to penalties. Switzerland shot and scored all five of their spot-kicks after failing to do so at the same stage in 2016. France scored their first four before sending Kylian Mbappe to take the fifth – and decisive – one. Mbappe shot towards the goalkeeper’s right, but Sommer made an excellent save to deny him, and after a momentary pause, celebrated his team’s progression to the next round.
