Spain and Switzerland join in the quarter final party at Euro 2020

 Spain and Switzerland join in the quarter final party at Euro 2020.

It isn't that often that the European Championship should find two of its local neighbours knocking on their doorstep and wondering whether a cheese and wine party might be the best idea anybody had had for years. Besides, when football does extend the hand of friendship to two countries who are more or less down the road from each other, you never know what might happen. 

France and Switzerland sounded like the perfect excuse for parochial rivalries to be resumed. Before this Euro 2020 encounter, most of the experts were sure that world champions France would blast a massive hole in the Swiss defence before gorging on goals. At this point the bookies may well have stopped taking potentially lucrative bets. But such is the unpredictability of the game at the best of times what we had was an inspired Switzerland team and a France team who looked as though they'd wrested back control of the game before then slipping out of contention as a penalty shoot beckoned.

Let us not beat about the bush. After the remarkable eight goal thriller which saw Spain hit Croatia between the eyes in extra time, France and Switzerland provided us with more of the same from a different menu but one that was equally as appetising and ultimately spectacular. The goals were flowing like a vintage bottle from a French or Swiss vineyard. You can often be spoilt by the phenomenal quality of international football but last night football exploded across continents with a glorious glut of goals. How honoured were we to see it all in its glittering splendour. 

In the heart of Bucharest, Romania, thousands of fans could have been forgiven for thinking that this game would still be running its course deep into the early hours of this morning. In fact the toaster may well have been readied for breakfast and the cereal prepared for ravenous appetites. But we were more than satisfied with the fare since matches such as this one don't come along that frequently. 

When Kylian Mbappe, the finest striker in the world at the moment, missed his penalty in a nerve shredding penalty shoot out, the world held its breath. Little, gentle, inoffensive Switzerland had finally got one over nearby France for perhaps the first time in their otherwise negligible football history. We caught our breath again and wondered at the sheer incredulity of it all. Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer flung himself heroically to stop Mbappe's fiercely hit penalty and just hesitated for a second or two. Then Sommer started winging his way towards his ecstatic supporters and the celebrations were underway. 

Switzerland had reached their first quarter finals of a major tournament since goodness knows when. But this victory was all the more heartfelt and special because they'd beaten France who quite clearly had all the superstars, egocentrics and pampered, wealthy footballers who are still world champions. But just for one night France had lost their joie de vivre, their esprit corps, the very French air of camaraderie, the all for one and one for all solidarity. France, for an evening, looked fragile, tired, drained, vulnerable and flawed, a team who simply presumed victory was theirs by right rather than taking the opposition seriously.  

With only minutes of the game gone, Switzerland administered the first shock to the French system. It was a hammer blow of monumental proportions. Somewhere in the Alps the cow bells were ringing with a vengeance and it must have felt that Switzerland had temporarily taken back the World Cup from France. A nicely weighted cross from Stephen Zuber was met with a ferocious header by Hans Seferovic that flew past Hugo Lloris the France goalkeeper. The lead was Switzerland's.

Then there came the turning point. Switzerland were awarded a penalty and promptly missed it. The game immediately changed its colour to French Les Bleus. France started decorating the game, embellishing it, forming it, shaping it to their requirements, marking out their very own specifications, tailoring and measuring the match in the only way they knew how.

In the second half France became a different entity. They took hold possession of the ball and just made the game their own, a valuable property, almost a marketable commodity that appreciated in value as the game progressed. Their passing became bolder, their thought processes a joy to watch and their football infinitely more constructive than it had been in an insipid first half. 

After a most ingenious necklace of passes Kylian Mbappe finally fed Karim Benzama and the much acclaimed Frenchman clipped the ball into the net from close range. Then another dazzling attacking combination of three French feet  resulted in flicks and joyful one twos before Benzama arrived just in the nick of time to nudge the ball into the net. 

Then there was the charismatic figure of Paul Pogba, a player who continues to divide opinion. Moody and temperamental at times, Pogba, complete with blue streak in his hair, scored one of the goals of Euro 2020. Picking the ball up from way outside the Swiss penalty area, Pogba bent and swerved a delightful shot that moved so many times in the air that it was impossible to follow the flight of the ball. France were now running away with this match and Switzerland could only look on and watch.

Suddenly Switzerland came swarming forward as if they simply wanted to be involved in the tournament even if in their heart of hearts they knew their time was up. After building up a head of steam and tentative retaliation, Switzerland pulled a goal back. Another surging run down the flank culminated in a powerfully driven cross which Serefovic bulleted home with an unstoppable header. 

Then with seconds left and France clinging on to a slender lead, Switzerland broke away in the most swashbuckling style. Mario Garvanovic, latching onto an astute through ball, charged full pelt towards goal and then tucked the ball past Lloris, the France keeper. The scores were level and there was nothing between the two sides. |Penalties had been missed and shots had hit the post. Truly this was a jewel of a game. 

Now the game entered extra time which once again miserably failed to find a winner. A penalty shoot out followed and after a succession of impressively taken penalties, both Switzerland and France were sharing the honours. The last of the penalty takers was the most highly coveted and brightest of all world class talents. Kylian Mbappe, never really firing on all cylinders, stepped up to take his penalty and saw the whites of the goalkeeper's eyes. Mbappe preferred power to precision and Yann Sommer, the Switzerland goal-keeper, threw his body to one side and the ball bounced away to safety. France will not be following up their gilded World Cup winning exploits of three years ago. Switzerland will be yodelling all the way back to the Alps.