France v Switzerland: Euro 2020 last 16 – live!
28-Jun-2021 18:57:13 | The Guardian
The teams are out! France wear their famous bleu, while Switzerland are in second-choice weiss. Both teams only have about 1,500 dedicated followers egging them on, though they’ll make the noise of 15,000, I’ll be bound. There are coins to be tossed, pennants to be swapped, fists to be bumped. Once all that’s done, we’ll be under way. Off in a couple of minutes!
The national anthems. The French one is a banger, second only to As Time Goes By as the best song in Casablanca ...
To arms, citizens! / Form your battalions! / March, march! / Let an impure blood water our furrows
When the morning skies grow red / And o’er their radiance shed / Thou, O Lord, appeareth in their light / When the Alps glow bright with splendour!
France have won the European Championship twice, in 1984 and 2000. You can read about their Euro 2000 exploits here; then click below for Steven Pye’s analysis of Michel Platini’s imperial phase.
Related: When Michel Platini scored nine goals in five games as France won Euro 84
Pre-match entertainment. Nick Ames is our man in Bucharest; here’s his big-match preview.
Related: France hoping for a grand statement from Kylian Mbappé
The winners of this game will face Spain in the quarter-finals in Saint Petersburg on Friday. They’ve just beaten Croatia 5-3 after extra-time, the sort of scoreline that wouldn’t have looked out of place at that 1954 World Cup. In doing so, Spain have become the first team in Euros history to score five goals in consecutive matches. Here’s how a wild afternoon in Copenhagen unfolded; Niall McVeigh’s got blisters on his fingers.
Related: Croatia v Spain goes to extra time: Euro 2020 last 16 – live!
Vladimir Petkovic has been in charge of Switzerland since 2014. This is his 77th game as boss, equalling the record of Karl Rappan, who had four spells in charge between 1937 and 1963. Rappan was the last man to take the Swiss to the quarter-finals of a tournament, at the aforementioned 1954 World Cup, only for his defensive system - the verrou, or Bolt - to shear clean off, his team losing 7-5 to Austria in the famous Heat Battle of Lausanne.
France make three changes to the team selected for the draw against Portugal. Clement Lenglet takes his place in a back three, while Benjamin Pavard and Adrien Rabiot are deployed as wing backs. Corentin Tolisso and Lucas Hernandez drop to the bench, while Jules Kounde misses out altogether. Switzerland name the same XI that started the Turkish romp.
France: Lloris, Varane, Lenglet, Kimpembe, Pavard, Pogba, Kante, Rabiot, Griezmann, Benzema, Mbappe.
Subs: Lemar, Giroud, Tolisso, Zouma, Mandanda, Sissoko, Coman, Lucas, Ben Yedder, Maignan, Dubois, Thuram.
Switzerland: Sommer, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez, Widmer, Freuler, Xhaka, Zuber, Shaqiri, Seferovic, Embolo.
Subs: Mbabu, Zakaria, Vargas, Mvogo, Sow, Fassnacht, Benito, Mehmedi, Gavranovic, Fernandes, Kobel, Schar.
The world champions France have lost just one of their last 17 games at a major tournament; the Euro 2016 final against Portugal. They’re currently on a 19-match unbeaten run in competitive fixtures, since losing a Euro qualifier against Turkey in 2019. And, either least or most pertinently, depending on how you look at it, Les Bleus have never lost a competitive encounter against Switzerland, winning two and drawing the other four.
By comparison, the Round of 16 is the stage when the Swiss normally get a nosebleed; the last time Switzerland made it to the quarter-finals of a major championship was at the 1954 World Cup. A shoo-in for Didier Dechamps’ side, then ... except this is almost exactly what everyone was saying about Italy before they faced Austria on Saturday night, and look what a struggle that turned out to be. And while France breezed through Group F on cruise control, they haven’t touched the heights expected of them yet, while Switzerland, who qualified from Group A as one of the best third-placed sides, scored some very pretty goals against Turkey, and go into this game with their tails up.
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