Spain down Switzerland on penalties to set up Italy semi-final

Spain edged past 10-man Switzerland on penalties in St Petersburg to progress to the semi-finals of Euro 2020. After finishing extra-time at 1-1, Unai Simon was the saviour for Spain in the quarter-final, saving two penalties to give La Roja a 3-1 victory in the shootout.

Switzerland entered the quarter-finals after their dramatic victory over world champions France on penalties but were instantly put on the back-foot after Spain opened the scoring with a huge stroke of luck. The own-goal curse at the Euros struck again as Jordi Alba’s shot took a massive deflection off Denis Zakaria which wrongfooted Yann Sommer in goal and trickled into the net inside the opening 10 minutes.

Despite conceding the early goal, Switzerland grew in confidence as the game wore on and imposed themselves on the three-time European champions. The Swiss were the better side for majority of the second-half and deservedly took the lead in the 68^th minute after a mix-up between the Spanish two centre-backs.

Xherdan Shaqiri capitalised on this mix-up from Laporte and Pau Torres and slotted the ball past Unai Simon in goal to level the proceedings and score his 8^th goal in major tournaments.

Switzerland were back in the contest following the equaliser, but the game turned on its head moments later as referee Michael Oliver harshly sent off Atalanta midfielder Remo Freuler for a challenge on Gerard Moreno, leaving the Swiss with 10-men.

It was only one-way traffic following the dismissal, with Spain constantly knocking on the door. The only thing standing in their way was Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer who produced a superhuman performance to keep them in the game. The Borussia Monchengladbach shot-stopper made 10 saves in the game and was the vital last line of defence for Switzerland as they frustrated Spain for over 45 minutes to take the game to penalties.

Unlike Switzerland’s previous shootout against France that had 9 inch-perfect penalties slotted into the corners, there were five missed penalties in this shootout.

Sergio Busquets fluffed the opening penalty and hit the post before Manuel Akanji, Rodri and Fabian Schar all had their penalties saved by the goal-keepers. Both Unai Simon and Yan Sommer have enjoyed excellent tournaments so far and kept their teams in the game during the shootout by diving as late as possible.

Ruben Vargas missed the decisive penalty kick and skied the ball into the stands, allowing Mikel Oyarzabal to send Spain to Wembley thanks to his well-taken penalty. With this nail-biting victory, Spain set up a date with Italy – who beat Belgium 2-1 – in the semi-final of Euro Championships.