Switzerland's goalkeeper Yann Sommer saves the penalty shot by France's Kylian Mbappe during the Euro 2020 soccer championship round of 16 match between France and Switzerland at the National Arena stadium in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, June 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, Pool)
Kylian Mbappe had a decisive miss from the penalty spot as Switzerland knocked out world champions France from the 2020 European Championship in a shootout on Monday night.
Switzerland who are into the quarter-finals for the first time took a surprise lead against the Euro favourites just before the 15-minute mark when Haris Seferovic headed a Steven Zuber cross past France keeper Hugo Lloris.
France looked uninspired throughout the remainder of the first half as Switzerland took a 1-0 lead into half-time.
The Swiss had a chance to double their lead early in the second half when VAR determined that Zuber had been fouled on the edge of the area, but Lloris went down and to his right to keep out Ricardo Rodriguez’s spot kick to keep France in the game.
Soon after France were level, when Benzema made a sublime first touch on a pass into the box from Mbappe and then poked home past Switzerland’s Yann Sommer.
And just like that, France took the lead through another Benzema goal, this time the Real Madrid striker nodding in on the goal line from an Antoine Griezmann rebound that was parried into his path by Sommer.
Paul Pogba, who’d been a force for France throughout the tournament, looked to have put matters to bed in the 75th minute, picking up a loose ball well outside the area and curling in a lovely shot from distance past Sommer to double the lead for Didier Deschamps’ side.
However, Seferovic headed home his second of the game just after 80 minutes when he latched onto a lovely curling cross from the right flank to give Switzerland a lifeline and substitute Mario Gavranovic netted a stellar goal shortly after to send the game to extra time.
Mbappe spurned a golden chance to seal the win in extra time after being played in by Pogba, but his shot from a tight angle slammed into the side netting and the game was decided from the penalty spot.
With everything riding on his spot kick, Mbappe saw his effort saved by Sommer to complete the remarkable comeback for Switzerland and send France home from the Euro.
Next up for Switzerland is a quarterfinal match against Spain, who beat Croatia 5-3 in an extra time thriller earlier in the day.
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