Yann Sommer, Nico Elvedi, Denis Zakaria, Breel Embolo and the Switzerland national team’s EURO 2020 journey has come to an end. Despite putting up a good fight in their quarterfinal against Spain, they were eventually beaten 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
At one point, it looked as though Switzerland’s Last 16 triumph against France would repeat itself with Yann Sommer the hero once more. Throughout regulation and extra time Borussia’s number one kept Switzerland in contention on multiple occasions, as Spain, with a one man advantage, saw a string of golden opportunities denied by the shot-stopper. Even in the penalty shootout, Sommer was able to keep out Rodrigo, but it wasn’t to be this time, as Schär, Akanji and Vargas went on to miss from the spot, sending Spain through to the semi-finals.
Sommer: "I am very proud of the team"
That the game would eventually need to be settled by a penalty shootout was far from expected after an unfortunate start to the game for Switzerland, especially from a Borussia point of view. With just eight minutes played, a Jordi Alba effort from the edge of the box was deflected past Sommer by Denis Zakaria for an own goal. Just 15 minutes later there was more bad news for Switzerland and Borussia alike, as Breel Embolo came off with a hamstring injury. Few chances fell to either side in the remaining 70 minutes, but the Swiss players showed tremendous character and went on to equalize through Xhedran Shaqiri in the 68th minute, which took the game to extra time and later penalties.
Despite a disappointing end to the tale, Switzerland will be remembered for their heroic performance and for reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in 67 years. "I am very proud of the team. Fantastic! We told ourselves before the game: It will be tricky, we will need to suffer, run a lot, close the spaces down. The red card hit us hard, of course, but I think we did really well in spite of that" said Sommer after the game.
