Top favorite Spain has humorlessly ended Switzerland's Euro 2020 fairy tale. The world champions advanced to a Euro 2020 semifinal for the first time in 28 years against the hosts with a lackluster 2-0 (0-0) victory. For outsiders Switzerland, the long-awaited "Miracle of Bern" failed to materialize in their first quarterfinal appearance. In front of 29,734 fans in the Wankdorf Stadium, Athenea del Castillo (66th) and Clàudia Pina (71st) scored for the fourth-placed team at the Olympic Games, which had previously cruised through the preliminary round with three wins and 14-3 goals and even missed two penalties against Switzerland.
The winner of the Germany-France duel awaits the Swiss on Wednesday in Zurich. The DFB team would be the clear favorite, at least on paper: Spain has never won in eight matches, the most recent being a 1-0 victory for Germany in the duel for Olympic bronze in 2024. In the Bernese cauldron, Spain had been going through an unexpectedly difficult time for a long time. 25,000 fans had marched from the Old Town to the stadium before the match, and the march was broadcast live online.
In the middle of it all: federation president Dominique Blanc, the families of many players, and countless costumed fans. "Raclette is better than paella," read a sign. Spain misses two penalties In the match, the stadium shook for the first time when Spanish striker Mariona Caldentey miserably converted a penalty she had won near the goal (9th). "I would never have believed something like this would happen in Switzerland," national team coach Pia Sundhage had said before kickoff about the euphoria.
The Swiss fought for every ball, the favorites seemed powerless, Irene Paredes at least headed against the post (43'). After the break, Spain increased the pressure. Patricia Guijarro and Esther Sullastres each hit a double shot from the left flank (61'), but their moment arrived: first Athenea fired in with her right foot, shortly after Pina followed with a dream goal into the top right corner.
With the brace, the air was cut off. Spain, who had only reached the semifinals of one previous European Championship in 1997 and had recently failed in the quarterfinals three times in a row, were also able to cope with Alexia Putellas's missed penalty (88'). Werder Bremen goalkeeper Livia Peng made a brilliant save. Shortly before the end, Switzerland's Noelle Maritz was shown a red card.
