Joining 2016 Euro champions in exiting the current campaign is France and Croatia, even as Switzerland scaled through on penalties, while Spain trashed Croatia in a stunning 5-3 defeat in the Euro 2020 knockout stage.
France shocking defeat
In what happened to be a painful miss, Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe missed out on a penalty kick which saw Switzerland advance to the next stage of the competition, after a competitive, yet intense 120 minutes of play.
After Switzerland opened the scoreline at the 14th minute, with a series of goals coming in later, in addition to the solid lead by the Le Bleu team, the Swiss national team shockingly gained a comeback at the 89th minute, which saw the game going into extra time and subsequently a penalty shootout.
As the pressure got heated up with rising tension, all France needed was a well-taken penalty by Mbappe to keep their hopes of qualifying alive. Surprisingly, the PSG star threw all hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals into the mud as his penalty kick got saved by the Swiss goalkeeper, which dampened all efforts of the French side.
Croatia’s painful exit
After being gifted an own goal by the Spanish side, hopes were, that Croatia would utilize their advantage to seal a spot at the quarterfinals of the Euros, given their early lead. However, the Spanish team gained composure and struck back, which also saw the match going into extra time, after the 3-3 draw just like France vs Switzerland.
Incredibly, Alvaro Morata netted a goal at the 99th minute, with Oyarzabal sealing up the victory with another goal at the 102nd minute. Croatia’s dream of making it past the round of 16 was cut short and Spain despite their early shortfall, proceeded into the next phase of the tournament.
As France and Croatia exit the Euro 2020, uncertainties hovers as England would face Germany, just as Sweden take on Ukraine later today.
