Legendary football manager Sir Alex Ferguson once famously said, “Football, bloody hell!” after his Manchester United team made a dramatic comeback against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final of 1999. His simple, yet accurate statement perfectly summarized the beautiful game of football, a sport where it's never over until it’s over and the tide can turn in an instant.
World champions France, the overwhelming favourites to win the Euro 2020 tournament, having narrowly missed out on the coveted trophy in 2016 were left spellbound when minnows Switzerland put up a fantastic display in Bucharest in an eventful 3-3 draw which resulted in a 5-4 penalties win.
Football news around the world were buzzing with admiration when Switzerland’s Mario Gavranovic equalized at the 90th minute after being two goals down to take the game into extra time. The Swiss got off to a strong start when Haris Seferovic gave his side a lead after the 15th minute, resulting in the world champions finding themselves on the backfoot and struggling to keep their hopes of winning the tournament alive. French forward Karim Benzema, having returned to the national side after five and a half years scored a brace to give France the lead which was further extended when Paul Pogba scored from a curling effort in the top right corner. However, the Swiss did not give up easily and pulled one back when Seferovic scored his second of the day before the dramatic equalizer at the end.
What followed was a series of events that nobody had envisioned before the match, as the two sides failed to break a deadlock which resulted in a penalty shootout. Switzerland converted all five penalty kicks and goalkeeper Sommer dived right and saved the penalty of one of the best footballers of the current generation, Kylian Mbappe.
This win is special for Switzerland for a multitude of reasons. Not only did they defeat the current world champions France, it was their first knockout stage victory since 1938 and the first time they have reached the last eight since the 1954 World Cup hosted by them. Switzerland will now look forward to facing Spain in the quarterfinals on Friday, 2nd July at 9:30 pm IST.
