Both sides went through the emotions in their Last 16 clashes on Monday, with their games both ending 3-3 after normal time and producing a combined 14 goals by the end of the night. Spain were rocked by two late goals before pulling through in extra time against a spirited Croatia side, while Switzerland pulled off the shock of the tournament, making their own late comeback from 3-1 down and advancing on penalties over world champions France.
Switzerland have certainly proven themselves dangerous opponents in recent years. After failing to qualify for Euro 2012, they’ve since made the knockouts in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, as well as Euro 2016. They’ve also acquitted themselves well in the Nations League, pipping Belgium to the knockouts in the inaugural edition and retaining their League A status in the most recent one.
However, this is the first time since the 1954 World Cup where the Swiss have reached a quarter-final, and it may be a step too far for them. Still, Vladimir Petkovic’s team did beat Spain 1-0 in their opening game of the 2010 World Cup and the two sides have since met three times more recently since 2018. Two of those saw them share 1-1 draws, while the other resulted in a narrow 1-0 win for La Roja in Madrid, so Spain won’t be expecting anything other than a tough encounter.
Although those meetings would suggest a low-scoring clash, Spain have now registered 10 goals in their last two outings over 210 minutes of action, following a slow start to their Euros campaign as the attack failed to ignite against Sweden and Poland. However, it’s worth noting that they still created plenty of chances in those opening two games, as only wasteful finishing prevented them from racking up convincing victories.
Moreover, there’s been at least three goals in all but one of Switzerland’s past 10 outings now, with half of these featuring a minimum of four strikes. They’ve found the net in 19 of 24 games at major tournaments or in the Nations League since the start of Euro 2016, so both teams to score holds some appeal here.
Since the start of 2020, Switzerland have scored in five of seven clashes with elites outfits Germany, Spain, Belgium, Italy or France. They also failed to register a single clean sheet as they drew four times and lost the other three encounters, though only an Italian side that impressed in the group stages beat them by more than a single goal. Given Spain have drawn seven of their past 12 over 90 minutes, including four of the past six as one of the exceptions came against minnows Lithuania, the Swiss should be backed to keep this competitive.
Both Teams To Score (Yes) @ 2.05Switzerland +1 Asian Handicap @ 1.74