[imagesource: AP]

If you stayed up late to watch the France versus Switzerland match, fair play to you.

Yesterday’s early kickoff saw Croatia and Spain involved in a classic, and it seemed unlikely that the second match could deliver something as dramatic.

But it did, in an almost eerily similar manner, with the added bonus of a penalty shootout thrown into the mix.

In summing up the day’s play, the BBC said “Two games, 14 goals, one giant killing.”

That’s the ‘in a nutshell’ version, but fails to mention the incredible late twists and turns that saw momentum swing from one team to the other.

Spain, having conceded the sort of own goal you would usually see on a school playground, looked to have sealed a place in the quarter-finals after Ferran Torres put them 3-1 up in the 77th minute.

Croatia wouldn’t lie down, though, and gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Mislav Orsic scored in the 85th minute.

Then, deep into injury time, substitute Mario Pasalic equalised, forcing the match into extra time.

I won’t say more than that until you’ve watched the highlights:

Credit to the much-maligned Alvaro Morata for his sweetly struck goal, having faced intense media scrutiny in the past week, as well as his family being threatened.

Half an hour after the final whistle left Spanish manager Luis Enrique a very relieved man, tournament favourites France took on the Swiss.

After going a goal down, France rallied back in the second half to lead 3-1, with just 10 minutes left on the clock.

Haris Seferovic’s 81st-minute goal seemed to cause panic in the French ranks, and then Mario Gavranovic hammered in a last-minute equaliser to send the game to extra time.

In that half-hour, Kylian Mbappé missed a few good chances, and Olivier Giroud almost nodded in the winner in the 120th minute.

Ultimately, the match would go to penalties, and you can see how that wrapped up from the nine-minute mark:

From the high of World Cup winner in 2018 to the low of missing the decisive penalty – Mbappé has crammed a lot into his 22 years.

After the miss, the superstar took to Twitter:

pic.twitter.com/nMmGi7V4mP

— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) June 28, 2021

Loosely translated, via Goal, that means:

“[It’s] very difficult to turn the page… The sadness is immense after this elimination, we weren’t able to get to our objective.

“I am sorry for the penalty. I wanted to help the team but I missed. To relax will be difficult but it’s unfortunately a pitfall in the sport that I love so much.

“I know all the fans will be disappointed but even so I would thank you for your support and to always have believed in us.

“The most important is to always be stronger for the next challenges that will come.”

French skipper Hugo Lloris made it clear that they don’t hold the forward responsible, saying “In football, we win together and we lose together, [and] we’re all responsible for the elimination.”

Manager Didier Deschamps echoed that sentiment, saying “nobody can be annoyed with him… When you take the responsibility, it can happen. He is obviously very affected by it.”

It really is uncanny how the matches played out:

Monday at EURO 2020…

⚽⏱️20′ 0-1
⚽⏱️38′ 1-1
⚽⏱️57′ 2-1
⚽⏱️77′ 3-1
⚽⏱️85′ 3-2
⚽⏱️90+2 3-3

⚽⏱️15′ 0-1
⚽⏱️57′ 1-1
⚽⏱️59′ 2-1
⚽⏱️75′ 3-1
⚽⏱️81′ 3-2
⚽⏱️90′ 3-3

The exact same scoring pattern! #EURO2020

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 28, 2021

The BBC asked if this was the best day in Euros history, and the general consensus seemed to be yes.

Former England striker Gary Lineker went one step further:

This might be the best day’s football I’ve ever watched. 2 extraordinary games that are almost the mirror image of each other. Unbelievable scenes.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) June 28, 2021

Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions:

the emotions in just 1 minute! #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/UYDYDUyi5l

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 28, 2021

All in all, just a marvellous day for football fans (excluding Croatian and French supporters).

Today’s 6PM kickoff sees old foes England and Germany do battle, with Sweden taking on Ukraine at 9PM.

[sources:bbcsport&goal]