Euro 2016: Round of 16 – France vs Switzerland

Neighbouring rivals, France and Switzerland meet in the Round of 16 at Arena Nationala, Bucharest, Romania in Euro 2020.

France advanced to this stage as Group F winners whilst Switzerland qualified as one of the four best third-placed teams.

 

Team News

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Lucas Hernandez is a serious doubt for France after suffering a knee injury in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw against Portugal, with his substitute replacement – Lucas Digne also unlikely to feature after suffering a hamstring injury.

Adrien Rabiot (ankle), Thomas Lemar (leg) and Marcus Thuram (thigh) are also unlikely to be in contention as Didier Deschamps faces a series of tactical changes, especially if all five players don’t pass fitness tests.

Switzerland have no fresh injury concerns with manager, Vladimir Petkovic set to name an unchanged line-up.

 

Stat Attack

• France are unbeaten in two previous meetings against Switzerland at Euros (W1, D1), winning 3-1 at Euro 2004 before drawing 0-0 at Euro 2016.
• Switzerland are winless in their last five matches against France in all competitions (D4, L1).
• Three of the last five meetings between France and Switzerland across all competitions finished goalless.
• Presnel Kimpembe has recovered 19 balls in three appearances at Euro 2020 for France, more than any other French player.
• Steven Zuber provided an assist in three of Switzerland’s four goals in Group A.

 

Prediction

Having dug deep to escape a difficult Group F as winners, France certainly wouldn’t of wanted an injury crisis on their hands coming into this game off the back of a performance of two halves in which they looked creatively shattered in the first half before finding quality in the second half to draw with Portugal.

Switzerland meanwhile were excellent in their last outing and would of had just over a week’s rest come kick-off, which makes me confident of their chances if they can come out on the front foot and take advantage of their extra rest time on top of their rivals’ injury crisis.

Petkovic’s Swiss however came up against top opposition in Group A against Italy and failed to produce any real quality throughout, so they need to learn from that experience and come out with more creative spirit and fight in attack if they want a spot in the Quarter-Finals.

If they don’t do that then I can see a comfortable French win regardless of their injury crisis.

Prediction: France 2-0 Switzerland

Result: France 3-3 Switzerland (Switzerland win 5-4 on penalties!!)