The world champion is out – and how! Tournament favorite France failed on Monday evening in a thrilling and turbulent round of 16 despite a 3-1 lead in the meantime against Switzerland, which never gave up. The Swiss won 5: 4 on penalties after they had saved themselves through a great chase to 3: 3 (1: 0) after regular time in extra time. After Haris Seferovic’s goal (15th minute) for Switzerland, Karim Benzema (57th and 59th) initially turned the game around within a very short time. Paul Pogba also scored impressively (75th). But again Seferovic (81st) and Mario Gavranović (90th) forced the night shift in Bucharest. Kylian Mbappè scored the last penalty for France, which the Swiss Yann Sommer saved.
The Equipe Tricolore, on the other hand, has to watch when the Confederates contest their first quarter-finals of a European football championship on Friday. Spain is waiting in Saint Petersburg. From the former hammer group F, after defending champion Portugal and world champion France, only the German national team remained in the tournament.
The 22,642 spectators in the Arena Națională ensured the EM atmosphere right from the start – and supposedly without any major corona worries. According to official information, no new cases were registered in the Romanian capital on Sunday. On Monday lunchtime, numerous Swiss and French people had tuned in to the round of 16 in Bucharest’s old town.
After the kick-off for Argentinian Fernando Andres Rapallini, who was the first non-European to lead a knockout game at an EM, both teams watched each other initially. France coach Didier Deschamps relied on a three-way chain. Bayern professionals Corentin Tolisso, Kingsley Coman and Lucas Hernández were initially on the bench, Jules Koundé was injured. Against the Swiss, the system initially worked with verve and often through Kylian Mbappé, who was greedy for his first tournament goal, but without any risk of scoring.
Switzerland brave against uninspired French
The Swiss national coach Vladimir Petković trusted the same starting eleven that had beaten Turkey 3-1 in the last group game – the national team had traveled to Romania with great self-confidence after the victory. The team was “ready to make history,” said Captain Granit Xhaka.
In the game, the Swiss first put themselves in the limelight and took the lead against the uninspired French. Ex-Frankfurt Haris Seferovic (15th) headed a cross from Eintracht professional Steven Zuber’s 23rd international goal after Clement Lenglet, the central man in the defense, had lost the decisive header duel. Seferovic then ran almost to the other side of the field to the Swiss fan block and triggered loud “Hopp Schwiiz” calls.
France reacted angrily but imprecisely. Two shots from distance within a few minutes by Mbappé (26th) and Adrien Rabiot (29th) missed the Swiss goal. But then the world champion switched back to friendly game mode: no pressure, no ideas, no commitment. So the Swiss had no trouble taking the lead into the break with their rock solid game.
Pogba scores a dream goal
The French came back with a changed formation and Coman, but initially remained unusually harmless. And then Bayern’s Benjamin Pavard made a mistake and fouled Zuber in the penalty area. Referee Rapallini gave a penalty after video evidence. But the ex-Wolfsburg Ricardo Rodriguez (55th) failed to France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
After that, everything went very quickly: First Benzema (57th) scored the 1: 1 on Mbappé template and two minutes later after a fine short pass in the penalty area with a head also the 2: 1. There were only four minutes and three seconds between the missed Swiss penalty and Benzema’s fourth tournament goal.
The Swiss, however, did not give up – not even after Pogba’s dreamy goal of the 3-1 lead, which for the French was only seemingly calming. Seferovic and Gavranović saved the Confederates deservedly in extra time, in which Benzema was replaced early. In the extra 30 minutes, apart from one chance for Mbappé (110th), scoring chances remained scarce.