France 3-3 Switzerland (4-5 on penalties): Three Things We Learned

Monday night was arguably the greatest night of European Championship we’ve ever seen, starting with the eight-goal thriller that went down between Spain and Croatia. After that, though, we saw one of the biggest shocks in the recent history of international football when world champions France went out of Euro 2020 at the hands of neighbours Switzerland.

It was a brutal, scrappy, enticing display that ended in a penalty shootout triumph for the Swiss, capping off an unbelievable evening of action across the continent.

Swiss courage

Switzerland had the chance to go 2-0 up in this game when they were given a second half penalty but when it was saved, and Les Bleus went 3-1 up, it felt as if this game was said and done. Then, however, in the final 10 minutes of the game, they rallied in a truly incredible way to take it through to extra time. At that stage France continued to pepper the Switzerland goal in the hope of avoiding penalties but when it got to that point, Yann Sommer was the hero in a pulsating shootout.

Mbappe’s lowest point

Kylian Mbappe is still one of the best players in world football and that shouldn’t be underestimated or undervalued, but last night, he certainly didn’t prove it. After missing a handful of chances to hit the back of the net for his nation, Mbappe was tasked with scoring the final spot-kick to keep France in the game – and the tournament. He couldn’t do it, marking what is almost certainly the lowest point of his professional career thus far.

Wide open Euros

Netherlands out, Portugal out, France out, with one of Belgium/Italy and England/Germany going out in the next few days. We truly are living through quite unprecedented times on the international stage and we’re not entirely sure it’s going to stop here. The likes of Switzerland, Czech Republic and Denmark will be seen as nations who have just managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the masses when in reality, they’ve got as good of a chance at winning this whole thing as the rest of the line-up.

Match Report

France: Lloris (6), Rabiot (7), Kimpembe (7), Varane (6.5), Pavard (7), Thuram (6.5), Kante (7.5), Pogba (9), Sissoko (6), Giroud (6.5), Mbappe (5.5), Coman (7), Benzema (8.5), Griezmann (7), Lenglet (7)

Switzerland: Sommer (6.5), Elvedi (6.5), Akanji (7), Shar (6.5), Mbabu (7.5), Freuler (6.5), Xhaka (7.5), Vargas (7), Fassnacht (6.5), Gavranovic (7.5), Mehmedi (6.5), Embolo (6.5), Seferovic (8.5), Shaqiri (6), Zuber (7), Widmer (6), Rodriguez (5)

Referee: Fernando Rapallini

Goals: Benzema x2, Pogba :: Seferovic x2, Gavranovic

Yellow Cards:

Red Cards: N/A