Coach and captain sing praises of Swiss history-makers

Switzerland’s extraordinary comeback to eliminate world champions France from the European Championship on Monday drew superlatives from coach and captain after their penalty shoot-out success.

Manager Vladimir Petkovic and skipper Granit Xhaka hailed the achievement of the first Swiss side to reach the last eight of a major tournament since they hosted the World Cup in 1954 after fighting back to draw 3-3 and advance 5-4 on spot kicks.

“No normal side would have come back from 3-1 down against the world champions,” said Petkovic, who equalled the record for the most matches in charge of the Switzerland team.

Xhaka said they have written a new chapter, which is particularly satisfying after the stinging criticism after their 3-0 loss to Italy in Rome on June 16 in their second Group A match.

“I’ve always said this team deserved a lot more than you can read,” he told the postmatch news conference. “There was so much discussion about this team. They said we were arrogant but I can guarantee you one thing, we really wrote a history. All Swiss people can be really proud. We achieved something that is impossible to describe with words.

“I had a positive feeling and we played a perfect first half. Then we missed a penalty and conceded three goals. This was a slap in the face but we committed mistakes.

Great goalkeeper

“But that we still turned it around against a team such as France, with all the top players in their ranks, is just unbelievable,” Xhaka added. “It was the 65th or the 68th minute, I looked up at the stadium clock, it was a corner against us and I said to Yann [Sommer], we have to wake up or this will all be over.

“It was too early to give up, we had 25 minutes left and I knew when we pulled it back to 3-2, we could go on and equalise. We were the better team and we wanted to win the match then in extra time. Then, in the end, we were lucky that we have a great goalkeeper to save the penalty.”

Petkovic, who has coached the Swiss over the past seven years, said his side have reached a new level. “I will be asking for the same from them again,” he said of their quarterfinal with Spain in St Petersburg on Friday.

Meanwhile, France coach Didier Deschamps said striker Kylian Mbappe will bounce back from missing the decisive penalty.

Deschamps said the striker and the rest of the team will learn from their tournament disappointment. “It will help everyone, I think. Kylian, even if he didn’t score a goal [at the Euros], he was decisive in many actions that we had, and he took responsibility to take this penalty,” he said.

“No-one is really angry with him. I talked to our players, we know the strength of this team, we’ve had many magnificent moments together — today it really hurts, there’s lots of sadness,” he added.

The 52-year-old coach dismissed suggestions that none of Mbappe’s teammates went to comfort him after his spot kick was saved. “The whole group is united in the dressing room. No-one talks about ‘you made this mistake’ or ‘you made that mistake’, Kylian knows his responsibility.” 

Reuters