Switzerland vs Spain

Switzerland and Spain will square off against each other at the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg with a place in the Euro 2020 semi-finals on the line.

Switzerland ousted reigning world champions France in the Round of 16 following a tense penalty shoot-out en route to reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in five Euro appearances. The Swiss will start this encounter as outsiders, and justifiably so after claiming just one victory in their previous 22 meetings with Spain in all competitions (D5, L16). Encouragingly, though, Vladimir Petkovic’s men have scored three goals apiece across their last two Euro matches, just one less than they registered in their previous seven in the competition. Indeed, before slotting three past Turkey in their final group stage fixture, Switzerland had failed to score over 2.5 goals in each of their previous 15 outings at the European Championships. If they somehow manage to put three past Spain, it will be the first time since October 2017 that the ‘Nati’ have scored 3+ goals in three consecutive competitive games.

On the other hand, the Spaniards have bounced back from a sluggish Euro 2020 start that saw them draw back-to-back matches against Sweden and Poland as they head into proceedings having won their last two games by an aggregate score of 10-3. In fact, a nerve-shredding 5-3 extra-time win over Croatia last time out saw Spain become the first nation in European Championship history to net 5+ goals in consecutive fixtures. Interestingly, before a 5-0 demolition of Slovakia on Matchday 3, Spain had failed to score over 4.5 goals in their first 42 matches at the European Championships. Luis Enrique’s ‘tiki-taka’ philosophy is responsible for Spain’s intimidating average of 73.4% possession accompanied by an eye-catching passing accuracy of 89.5% at Euro 2020 so far. Ousting Switzerland would be a good omen, considering ‘La Furia Roja’ have conquered the competition the last two times they reached the semi-finals.