Euro 2020: Switzerland vs. Spain Match Recap

Spain are through to the semi-finals of Euro 2020 after they prevailed in a penalty shootout over Switzerland following a 1-1 draw.

Spain haven't been at their best at Euro 2020. They've notably drawn with Poland and Sweden and, narrowly scraped by Croatia last time out, though they got off to a flyer here.

Euro 2020: Quarter-final

Switzerland vs. Spain: First half

With less than 10 minutes gone, Koke's corner appeared to have been over-cooked as it went over everyone's heads in the box. Instead it found Jordi Alba, whose solid left-footed strike took a big deflection off Denis Zakaria to wrong-foot Yann Sommer in the Switzerland goal and find the back of the net.

While this was a quick start to the game, the rest of the first half passed without much further action.

Switzerland vs. Spain: Second half and Extra-time

In the second half, Switzerland began to create more chances. Zakaria came close to atoning for his own goal when he narrowly headed wide from Roberto Rodriguez's corner in the 56th minute.

Steven Zuber also came close when Ruben Vargas got him the ball close to the goal only for a great save from Unai Simon to deny him.

The Swiss did eventually find the equalizer in the 68th minute when a defensive mix-up led to Remo Freuler bearing down on goal. He unselfishly laid it off to Xherdan Shaqiri, who dispatched a simple finish to bring his nation level.

However, less than 10 minutes later, Freuler's night was over when he was sent off for a nasty-looking challenge on Gerard Moreno. Moreno would go on to have a number of golden chances in extra-time but was unable to convert.

After some excellent work by Sommer, who kept the score at 1-1 for the rest of the 120 minutes, the game headed to penalties.

Switzerland vs. Spain: Penalty shootout

Sommer continued to impress in the penalty shoot-out but his teammates struggled to convert their spot-kicks. After the Swiss scored just 1 of their opening 4 penalties, with 2 being saved by Simon, Mikel Oyarzabal delivered the final blow as his penalty doomed Switzerland to elimination from Euro 2020.

Switzerland will likely look back on Euro 2020 fondly, particularly with their memorable win over France in the last round. For Spain, their attention turns to a semi-final clash with Italy next time out in the next round of Euro 2020.