Luis Enrique raised his fists in the sky of St. Petersburg, the Spanish players cheered in a bunch of pure joy before they all had to take a deep breath. Dejected and exhausted, on the other hand, the Swiss players walked around the destroyed missile Ruben Vargas into the curve to their fans.
This time her show of strength was not enough. After an own goal and a red card, the world champion conquered the quarter-finals of the European Football Championship against Spain. Four days after the spectacular victory on penalties against France, the Confederates again had to make the decision from the point on Friday in St. Petersburg, but this time lost after three misses in four attempts with 1: 3 (1: 1, 1: 1, 0: 1).
Mikel Oyarzabal converted the decisive penalty for the Spaniards. Sergio Busquets had only put the first on the post, but the Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simón saved two penalties against Fabian Schär and Manuel Akanji. In addition, Ruben Vargas shot over for Switzerland. The Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer held against Rodri, but that ultimately didn’t help. “Football was fair and we are the fair winners,” said Simón, one of the Spanish heroes, after winning on penalties on Friday. “It’s a very euphoric moment.”
Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Denis Zakaria had scored the Spanish lead in the eighth minute with an own goal, the former Bayern professional Xherdan Shaqiri (68th) initially brought the Swiss back into the game. From the 77th minute, the team of coach Vladimir Petkovic had to play because of Remo Freuler’s dismissal. The semi-final of a major tournament remains unmatched for the Swiss – despite the strong summer parades.
What bad luck for Zakaria, who was allowed to play Granit Xhaka for the yellow-banned captain. Spain used the first corner. Koke hit the ball from the right into the box, Aymeric Laporte’s head couldn’t get it. Luckily for Jordi Alba: The veteran, who had returned to the starting eleven, withdrew and Zakaria faked an untenable summer in goal for his Mönchengladbach club colleague.
Now the world champion conqueror was really challenged. But then that: after 20 minutes, Breel Embolo had to be treated. It didn’t go any further. The Gladbacher had to go, Ruben Vargas from FC Augsburg came in. The Swiss stuck to their tactics against the pass specialists from Spain. After 25 minutes, Luis Enrique’s team had almost 75 percent possession. And after another corner, another great chance: This time Alvaro Morata climbed up, Sommer had to stretch, but was there.
What the Swiss lacked was, above all, relief. The moments of surprise from Xhaka were sorely missed. The few hundred Swiss fans who had traveled to the northernmost European Championship city despite the delicate corona situation did not initially see a stormy Swiss spectacle after the nerve-wracking progress against France. A header – even after a corner – from Borussia Dortmund’s Manuel Akanji went clearly over the gate (34th).
The cat of St. Petersburg: Unai Simon catches two penalties
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Build: AP
But there was nothing compelling for the Spaniards either. They let the ball run as usual and deliberately. The move to the opposing goal was still missing after the two high-scoring appearances in the group stage with the 5: 0 against Slovakia and the 5: 3 against Croatia in the second round.
RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo should take care of that after the break. And just over a minute after the restart, he tried it for the first time from half left from twelve meters – but stood on the sidelines. Luis Enrique followed suit, replacing Morata with second center forward Gerard Moreno. But a hit almost fell on the other side. Zakaria’s header just missed the Spaniard’s goal.
Spanish joy: Jordi Alba (r.) And Alvaro Morata
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Image: EPA
Luis Enrique didn’t seem calm at all because of the narrow lead against a Swiss team that had already lost 3-1 against France. He jumped up from the bench, gestured, and pointed in the direction of his players. With good reason: In the 64th minute they allowed a top-class chance from top preparer Steven Zuber from Eintracht Frankfurt, but keeper Unai Simón saved the lead.
He was powerless to compensate, which was initiated by a misunderstanding between Spain’s defenders Laporte and Pau Torres and Freuler used the template on Shaqiri. The cheering of the former Bayern professional should also prove: Now even more is possible. Shortly afterwards, however, Freuler had to leave the field after a serious foul, and the exciting final phase began – without further goal. It went into extra time and into the exciting penalty shoot-out.
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