Euro 2020: Colossal shock as France fall to Switzerland
June 29, 2021
France 3-3 Switzerland, Bucharest
(Benzema 57', 59', Pogba 75' — Seferovic 15', 81', Gavranovic 90')
Switzerland won 5-4 on pens
This game was football at its breathless best. France are dust and the Swiss have their first competitive victory over their Alpine neighbors.
But this classic tussle served up more than 120 minutes of unremitting drama. By the end of the night, the underdogs had pulled off a seismic shock in a penalty shootout.
The victory for Switzerland sees them advance to the quarterfinals of this competition for the first time. Their reward is a meeting with Spain.
Benzema at his best
From the elegant beauty of France to the collective spirit of Switzerland, this was a clash of France's A-Listers and the Swiss grafters. Trailing 1-0 to an early Haris Seferovic strike, France were already on the ropes. Switzerland were gifted the chance to double their advantage when a penalty was awarded after consultation with VAR, but Ricardo Rodriguez saw his penalty saved by France keeper Hugo Lloris.
That moment sparked the French into life. An explosive couple of minutes saw the game tilt back France's way. The French are blessed with flair and flamboyance, and Karim Benzema's equalizer was pure football majesty. Contorting his body to drag the ball into his path, he then elegantly flicked it over the advancing Yann Sommer. It was akin to Dennis Bergkamp's wonderous goal for Arsenal against Newcastle in 2002.
Benzema had been in the international wilderness for six years, having only returned the France team this month following an absence that stretched back to 2015. His return to the team has been seamless, and it speaks volumes that he is now the sixth highest scorer for France. Had he not been away, he'd surely have overtaken Thierry Henry's international record of 51 goals by now.
France weren't done there though and neither was Benzema, who capped another breathless France move, nodding in Antoine Griezmann's cross at the far post. By the time Paul Pogba, a player who finds another two gears in the blue of France, struck a third with a beautiful teasing shot that drifted into the top corner. In this kind of mood, France will take some stopping, but the final stages of regulation time exposed France's Achilles Heel.
Swiss comeback
Switzerland, 3-1 down with 15 minutes to go and staring defeat in the face, may have been stirred by what Croatia had done a few hours earlier in Copenhagen against Spain. The Swiss rallied and Seferovic's bullet header brought it back to 3-2 before France eventually crumbled to a Mario Gavranovic equalizer in the final minute.
What the Swiss lacked in individual class, they made up for in collective spirit. The Swiss were prepared to roll their sleeves up in a way that the French weren't, seemingly content to simply wait for someone to create a moment of individual brilliance.
The chances of that ebbed away when Benzema had to limp off with a knock. France looked uninspired from that moment on, even if substitute Kingsley Coman, of Bayern Munich, found the bar before limping off himself.
Extra time passed without major incident with the specter of a shootout looming. The French executed the first four of their penalties with the panache you associate with them. Kylian Mbappe wasn't able to follow suit with goalkeeper Yann Sommer batting his effort away. Just like that, the a giant had fallen.