- England beat Switzerland 5-3 on penalties in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024
- The press in Switzerland claimed that England were lucky on Saturday night
- Listen to It’s all about to begin! EUROS DAILY: Why Southgate is talking ‘nonsense’ about England’s Euro 2024 draw
According to the Swiss press, England can count themselves lucky to reach the quarter-finals of the 2024 European Championship on Saturday.
The Three Lions beat Switzerland on penalties on a dramatic night in Düsseldorf, with Gareth Southgate’s team once again determined to reach the next round.
After falling 1-0 behind to Breel Embolo’s opening goal, Saka pulled England back into the match with a stunning individual performance in the 80th minute.
The quarter-final went to extra time and penalties, with the Three Lions winning all five of their penalties. Jordan Pickford saved Manuel Akanji’s effort to send Southgate and his team through 5-3.
After the conflict, Switzerland reacted with frustration.
The Swiss press claims that England were lucky to win the quarter-finals of Euro 2024
England won 5-3 on penalties, with Jordan Pickford saving Manuel Akanji’s spot-kick
In addition to accusations of luck, the media claimed their team outperformed most other Three Lions players on the pitch man-to-man, with certain Premier League stars playing supporting roles in the match.
In the meantime, in his latest opinion pieceChristian Finkbeiner, chief football correspondent at Blick, lamented the result, saying: ‘England were the luckiest team, but not the best team’.
Finkbeiner also lamented the misfortune of the Swiss players, including Zeki Amdouni and Silvan Widmer, who missed chances towards the end of the match.
The game, he says, was “marked by caution and tactics.”
The Swiss press expressed itself in a similarly arrogant manner in other articles, claiming that the national team dominated the match.
A journalist wrote: ‘Harry Kane [had] no chance against Akanji’, and that Xhaka and Remo Freuler were ‘really strong’ in midfield.
They even went so far as to say that Fabian Schar ‘relegated’ Phil Foden to the role of ‘an extra’ and that Jude Bellingham was powerless against the ‘indestructible’ Ricardo Rodriguez.
According to Swiss daily Blick, ‘inconsistent’ may be the word that describes England’s performance at Euro 2024, but their victory over Switzerland was far from ‘lucky’ as Pickford dived in the right direction to save Akanji’s penalty.
Swiss journalists claimed that Phil Foden was reduced to the role of ‘an extra’ throughout the match
Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the decisive penalty to secure England a place in the semi-finals
Akanji said of his missed penalty: ‘When you miss and you get knocked out, you feel like you’ve let everyone down.
“It hurts! It’s definitely going to take a few days to process.”
England reached the semi-final against the Netherlands. The match starts on Wednesday at 20:00 in the Signal Iduna Park of Borussia Dortmund.