- Spain advance to the semi-finals after beating Switzerland on penalties
- Luis Enrique’s side took the lead through an own-goal by Zakaria before Xherdan Shaqiri pulled the Swiss back in the second-half
- The Swiss were reduced to ten-men when Freuler was given a straight red card
- After extra time, the match went to penalties where Spain earned the win
Spain scrape past ten-man Switzerland through penalties to book a semi-final spot.
The former world champions started the game on the front foot and took the lead after eight minutes courtesy of a Denis Zakaria own-goal.
Zakaria – drafted in as a replacement for the suspended Granit Xhaka, could only watch as Jordi Alba’s left-footed half-volley struck his leg, before floating past a helpless Yann Sommer.
The Swiss got their equalizer in the second half when Remo Freuler capitalised off a mix-up between centre-back duo Pau Torres and Aymeric Laporte to break into the Spanish penalty area, before squaring to talisman Xherdan Shaqiri who tapped home his third goal of the tournament.
Freuler would be sent minutes later for a tackle that referee Michael Oliver felt was reckless and rash.
The match proceeded to extra-time before penalties were to decide the winner.
Mikel Oyarzabal scored the decisive penalty to eliminate the valiant Swiss, as Spain progressed 3-1 on penalties.
The three-time winners will now travel to London to face either Belgium or Italy in Tuesday’s semi-final amongst the favourites to go all the way.
