Mikel Oyarzabal was Spain’s penalty shootout hero, as his winning spot-kick finally dumped out brave 10-man Switzerland in St Petersburg and sent his side into the Euro 2020 semi-finals, where they’ll meet either Belgium or Italy next Tuesday.
Switzerland had beaten tournament favourites France in a shootout in the last round but there were misses galore as they were undone 3-1 on spot-kicks this time, after holding Spain to a 1-1 draw through extra-time, following Remo Freuler’s harsh red card on 77 minutes.
Spain had got off to a flying start to the match when a big deflection off Denis Zakaria took Jordi Alba’s shot past Yann Sommer but, despite losing key man Breel Embolo early on, Switzerland battled back and capitalised on another defensive howler from Luis Enrique’s side when Xherdan Shaqiri levelled.
Freuler’s sending off tilted the odds back in Spain’s favour but despite peppering Sommer’s goal in extra-time they couldn’t find a winner.
When Sergio Busquets hit Spain’s first penalty against the post in the shootout it seemed Switzerland may pull off another big upset, but while Rodri also failed to convert for Spain later on, errors from Fabian Schar, Manuel Akanji, and Ruben Vargas allowed Oyarzabal to book his side’s place in the first semi-final at Wembley.
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