• Reaction

“France thought the match was won and Switzerland won”

Getty Images
Advertisement

One of the Euro 2020’s stars reflected on the shocking Round of 16 match between France and Switzerland that left Les Bleus out. 

All of us will remember where we were when Switzerland shockingly eliminated France from the European Championship this week. There was even a moment throughout the match, when the French were playing the best football we’ve seen in the entire tournament. They were up 3-1 and still had a chance to win the game by an important margin. But there was a moment in which they got way overconfident and Switzerland never stopped believing.

In the end, the penalty kick shootout was overly dramatic as Kylian Mbappe missed h the final shot to eliminate his own teammates. This is a perfect cautionary tale for other national teams that are considered favorites and didn’t get eliminated. The likes of Spain or Italy come to mind, they all have chance to get an unexpected defeat as France did. In Spain, Koke spoke about this overconfidence that all squads need to overcome. 

Koke wants to avoid what happened to France.

Ahead of Spain’s upcoming match against Switzerland, Koke analyzed France’s elimination to remind his teammates they can’t get overconfident. This is what he said via Marca: “More than Euro 2020 being crazy, it is not easy to win games these days, as there are no small teams and any team can beat you. We saw it when France played Switzerland, as France thought that the match was won and [Switzerland] came back.

“The same thing almost happened to us [against Croatia]. We are very happy. After so much suffering, fighting and good work, we have the reward of reaching the next round. Now we have a very important match against Switzerland, and the quarter-final of the European Championship does not come around very often. We are really looking forward to playing the match.”

x