Products You May Like
8′ Embolo’s intercepted run to the byline earns Switzerland a second corner that France also clear. It’s been a fairly even start between these two sides.
7′ Mbappe twists this way and that with the ball to the left of the box, eventually fizzing a cross in. France get a corner out of it but no joy from said corner.
5′ Benzema darts into space down the left-hand channel and cuts back from the byline, only for a Switzerland defender to cut it out. Switzerland can’t clear it totally though and block Pogba’s opportunistic strike from the centre of the box.
3′ Switzerland force a corner of their own off Pavard as Shaqiri’s cross is blocked. Rodriguez’s corner doesn’t cause France much trouble.
2′ France start the game brightly, immediately forcing a corner down their left. Varane nods over from Griezmann’s corner when he should at least be hitting the target.
1′ Switzerland’s talisman Shaqiri gets this game underway! France are wearing their usual blue home colours. Switzerland will play in all-white.
The two teams are out on the pitch in Bucharest. Switzerland sing their national anthem and France rustle up a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise.
This is the fifth meeting between France and Switzerland in a major competition since 2004, but the first in the knockout rounds. France are unbeaten against the Swiss in their last seven meetings, their longest ever unbeaten run against their neighbours, although four of the last five meetings between the pair have ended level. This could be a tight affair.
Deschamps switches France to a back three, making three changes to the team from their 2-2 draw with Portugal. Pavard returns while Rabiot starts at left wing-back with Lucas Digne out injured. Dependable as ever, Switzerland are unchanged from their win over Turkey. Shaqiri grabbed two goals in that game to become the Swiss’ all-time top scorer in major tournaments.
SUBS: Yvon Mvogo, Denis Zakaria, Edimilson Fernandes, Kevin Mbabu, Admir Mehmedi, Christian Fassnacht, Mario Gavranovic, Djibril Sow, Fabian Schar, Gregor Kobel, Ruben Vargas, Loris Benito.
SWITZERLAND (3-4-1-2): Yann Sommer; Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez; Silvan Widmer, Remo Freuler, Granit Xhaka (c), Steven Zuber; Xherdan Shaqiri; Haris Seferovic, Breel Embolo.
SUBS: Wissam Ben Yedder, Steve Mandanda, Kingsley Coman, Leo Dubois, Lucas Hernandez, Corentin Tolisso, Mike Maignan, Kurt Zouma, Olivier Giroud, Thomas Lemar, Marcus Thuram, Moussa Sissoko.
FRANCE (3-4-1-2): Hugo Lloris (c); Raphael Varane, Clement Lenglet, Presnel Kimpembe; Benjamin Pavard, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Adrien Rabiot; Antoine Griezmann; Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappe.
Switzerland secured third place in Group A last time out by dispatching an underwhelming Turkey 3-1. Vladimir Petkovic’s team have reached the knockout stage in four consecutive tournaments now but were knocked out straight away in the last three. They’ll need to defeat France here if they want to shake their tag of being a good side but not a great one.
After topping the group of death Group F, world champions France face neighbours Switzerland in this first knockout round. Didier Deschamps’ men will be confident of making it through to the next round of Euro 2020, having not lost a competitive match for over two years now. If Germany and Portugal couldn’t defeat the French, Switzerland really shouldn’t either.
Hello! Welcome to our live text commentary of this UEFA Euro 2020 round of 16 clash between France and Switzerland at National Arena, Bucharest.
9′ Switzerland retain possession from the corner and work the ball right to Freuler who runs just to the edge of the box. Freuler’s cross drops over the head of Pavard at the far post as well as everyone else.