Spain prevail in shootout against gallant 10-men Swiss

The Report Desk

Published: July 3, 2021, 01:43 AM

Spain prevail in shootout against gallant 10-men Swiss

Spain reached the Euro 2020 semi-finals on Friday after prevailing 3-1 in a nervy penalty shootout against dogged Switzerland who were reduced to ten men by a sending off but still clung to a 1-1 draw after extra time.

Mikel Oyarzabal struck the decisive spot-kick after Gerard Moreno and Dani Olmo had converted for Spain and Sergio Busquets and Rodri squandered their kicks.

Spain keeper Unai Simon saved from Switzerland's Manuel Akanji and Fabian Schar while Ruben Vargas hammered his shot over the bar.

In normal time, Spain took an eighth-minute lead when a Jordi Alba strike took a heavy deflection off Daniel Zakaria and went into the net. It was the 10th own goal of the tournament - more than at all the other Euros combined.

Hoping to win their first of four quarter-final appearance in major tournaments, Switzerland deservedly levelled in the 68th minute when Xherdan Shaqiri cashed in on a mix-up in the Spain defence.

The Swiss cause was complicated by Remo Freuler being shown a straight red card in the 77th minute, yet they held on to force the extra period and somehow survived a Spain onslaught to make it to spot-kicks.

Despite beating France 5-4 on penalties in the last 16 by scoring all their kicks, only Mario Gavranovic could beat Simon and the Swiss were left heartbroken, still waiting to win a European Championship quarter-final.

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