Jul 1, 2021
Spain battles Switzerland in quarterfinals at Euro 2020
Spain’s competitive history with Switzerland is lengthy and one-sided. Prior to Friday, La Roja hold a 16-5-1 edge over their opponents with the only loss coming in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup.
TSN.ca Staff
Monday at the Euro was, perhaps, the greatest single day in the tournament’s illustrious history thanks to two instant-classic matches that won’t soon be forgotten. Spain and Switzerland were the two victors emerging from those battles, but the manner in which each team moved on was far from alike.
When Ferran Torres scored against Croatia in the 77th minute of their Round of 16 tie, all seemed to be well for La Roja. The absolute horror show own goal that gave Croatia the shock lead in the 20th could be forgotten about and Spain, now up 3-1, could turn their focus onto the quarters.
Appearances, of course, can be deceiving and things were far from well for Spain thanks to a furious Croatia comeback led by the industrious Mislav Orsic. Scoring in the 85th and then setting up Mario Pasalic in the second minute of stoppage, Orsic turned the match on its ear and forced extra time at 3-3. It was in extra time where Spain regrouped and restored order, getting back the lead thanks to the much-maligned Alvaro Morata in the 100th before Mikel Oyarzabal put the match to bed three minutes later for a 5-3 victory. Spain could again breathe.
Switzerland did what Croatia couldn’t. Just like the Croatians, the Swiss forced their Round of 16 match into extra time when only 15 minutes earlier, the curtains were closing on their Euro 2020 campaign.
After Switzerland had taken a shock lead through Haris Seferovic, normal order appeared to have been restored when Karim Benzema scored two goals in a three-minute span only a minute after Hugo Lloris stopped Ricardo Rodriguez from the penalty spot. Paul Pogba seemed to have iced the game with a wonder goal in the 75th. But Switzerland kept dreaming. Seferovic completed a brace in the 81st before Mario Gavranovic stunned Bucharest with a 90th-minute equalizer to make it 3-3. When extra time solved nothing, Yann Sommer took to the forefront, stopping Kylian Mbappe’s effort to win 6-5 on penalties.
For the first time since 1954 in a major international tournament, and for the first time ever at a Euro, Switzerland had won a knockout-round match.
"We wrote the history of this footballing nation," captain Granit Xhaka said. "We are dreaming now."
The dream could quickly turn into a nightmare for the Swiss whose reward is another date with a football blueblood in La Roja. The first bit of bad news is that the influential Xhaka is unavailable for the match, thanks to yellow card accumulation.
For his part, Spain keeper Unai Simon says he’s already turned the page on that own goal on Monday that somehow made it through from Pedri’s back pass.
"I miscontrolled,” Simon said. “I've no idea how many times I've controlled a ball in situations like that. But then I missed it and for a couple of minutes I was thinking: 'How can we be losing when Croatia haven't done anything?'"
He hopes he redeemed himself with a point-blank stop on Andrej Kramaric in extra time.
"Probably, it's the best save of my career so far,” the Athletic Bilbao man said. “Had Croatia scored we'd have been in difficulty. We talked about that: even if we're behind, that we were capable, in extra time, with half an hour, to get back into the match or to score again. We knew we were capable of doing that."
Simon says veteran teammate Thiago Alcantara is a person he can turn to in times of adversity.
"He's someone who knows that there will be ups and downs, he spots them easily," Simon said of the Liverpool midfielder. "And when you need an arm around you, for someone to recognize the work you're putting in, he'll be the first one there. Everyone knows we're building an incredible group – both [goalkeeper] David [de Gea] and Thiago are prime examples of the fact that we're united and we're a group that will give its all to win this Euro.”
Spain’s competitive history with Switzerland is lengthy and one-sided. Prior to Friday, La Roja hold a 16-5-1 edge over their opponents with the only loss coming in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup where Switzerland were 1-0 victors in Group H action on a Gelson Fernandes goal. The victory did not bring the Swiss any good tidings. They became the first team since 1994 to defeat the group winner on the first matchday of the group stage and still miss the knockout round.
La Roja, of course, went on to win the World Cup.
POTENTIAL SPAIN XI: Simon; Azpilicueta, Garcia, Laporte, Alba; Koke, Busquets, Pedri, Ferran Torres; Morata, Sarabia
POTENTIAL SWITZERLAND XI: Sommer; Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez, Mbabu; Freuler, Zakaria, Zuber, Shaqiri; Seferovic, Embolo
When Ferran Torres scored against Croatia in the 77th minute of their Round of 16 tie, all seemed to be well for La Roja. The absolute horror show own goal that gave Croatia the shock lead in the 20th could be forgotten about and Spain, now up 3-1, could turn their focus onto the quarters.
Appearances, of course, can be deceiving and things were far from well for Spain thanks to a furious Croatia comeback led by the industrious Mislav Orsic. Scoring in the 85th and then setting up Mario Pasalic in the second minute of stoppage, Orsic turned the match on its ear and forced extra time at 3-3. It was in extra time where Spain regrouped and restored order, getting back the lead thanks to the much-maligned Alvaro Morata in the 100th before Mikel Oyarzabal put the match to bed three minutes later for a 5-3 victory. Spain could again breathe.
Switzerland did what Croatia couldn’t. Just like the Croatians, the Swiss forced their Round of 16 match into extra time when only 15 minutes earlier, the curtains were closing on their Euro 2020 campaign.
After Switzerland had taken a shock lead through Haris Seferovic, normal order appeared to have been restored when Karim Benzema scored two goals in a three-minute span only a minute after Hugo Lloris stopped Ricardo Rodriguez from the penalty spot. Paul Pogba seemed to have iced the game with a wonder goal in the 75th. But Switzerland kept dreaming. Seferovic completed a brace in the 81st before Mario Gavranovic stunned Bucharest with a 90th-minute equalizer to make it 3-3. When extra time solved nothing, Yann Sommer took to the forefront, stopping Kylian Mbappe’s effort to win 6-5 on penalties.
For the first time since 1954 in a major international tournament, and for the first time ever at a Euro, Switzerland had won a knockout-round match.
"We wrote the history of this footballing nation," captain Granit Xhaka said. "We are dreaming now."
The dream could quickly turn into a nightmare for the Swiss whose reward is another date with a football blueblood in La Roja. The first bit of bad news is that the influential Xhaka is unavailable for the match, thanks to yellow card accumulation.
For his part, Spain keeper Unai Simon says he’s already turned the page on that own goal on Monday that somehow made it through from Pedri’s back pass.
"I miscontrolled,” Simon said. “I've no idea how many times I've controlled a ball in situations like that. But then I missed it and for a couple of minutes I was thinking: 'How can we be losing when Croatia haven't done anything?'"
He hopes he redeemed himself with a point-blank stop on Andrej Kramaric in extra time.
"Probably, it's the best save of my career so far,” the Athletic Bilbao man said. “Had Croatia scored we'd have been in difficulty. We talked about that: even if we're behind, that we were capable, in extra time, with half an hour, to get back into the match or to score again. We knew we were capable of doing that."
Simon says veteran teammate Thiago Alcantara is a person he can turn to in times of adversity.
"He's someone who knows that there will be ups and downs, he spots them easily," Simon said of the Liverpool midfielder. "And when you need an arm around you, for someone to recognize the work you're putting in, he'll be the first one there. Everyone knows we're building an incredible group – both [goalkeeper] David [de Gea] and Thiago are prime examples of the fact that we're united and we're a group that will give its all to win this Euro.”
Spain’s competitive history with Switzerland is lengthy and one-sided. Prior to Friday, La Roja hold a 16-5-1 edge over their opponents with the only loss coming in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup where Switzerland were 1-0 victors in Group H action on a Gelson Fernandes goal. The victory did not bring the Swiss any good tidings. They became the first team since 1994 to defeat the group winner on the first matchday of the group stage and still miss the knockout round.
La Roja, of course, went on to win the World Cup.
POTENTIAL SPAIN XI: Simon; Azpilicueta, Garcia, Laporte, Alba; Koke, Busquets, Pedri, Ferran Torres; Morata, Sarabia
POTENTIAL SWITZERLAND XI: Sommer; Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez, Mbabu; Freuler, Zakaria, Zuber, Shaqiri; Seferovic, Embolo