The round of 16 is over: Yann Sommer and Nico Elvedi were knocked out of the competition following a 6-1 defeat to Portugal.
After they had missed the final group stage game against Serbia through illness, Sommer (starting eleven) and Elvedi (bench) were back in the squad against Portugal. Borussia’s number one played the full 90 minutes, but Elvedi was an unused substitute.
After a quarter of an hour, the Portuguese took the lead through Goncalo Ramos (17’). The attack of Switzerland was somewhat limited in a game where Portugal were clearly the better side. Defender Pepe extended their lead from a corner (33’). After the break, Ramos and Raphael Guerreiro put the game beyond reach with goals in the 51st and 55th minute respectively.
Yakin: “We will look forward”
Manuel Akanji got one back for the Swiss (58’), however it didn’t really inspire much hope. Nine minutes later, Ramos was back on the scoresheet to all but confirm Portugal’s place in the quarter-final and to grab his hattrick at the same time. Substitute Rafael Leao put the lid on the game by scoring Portugal’s sixth in added time.
“We lost a game today, however that doesn’t mean we have to look at everything all bad and criticise everything,” explained Switzerland’s head coach, Murat Yakin. Following the final whistle, he added: “We will get through this as a team and look forward.”
