Switzerland knocked out World Cup champions France from the 2020 European Championship in a shootout on Monday night after Kylian Mbappe missed a decisive penalty spot in a shootout after regular and extra time ended in a 3-3 draw.
Switzerland took a surprising lead against Euro favorites just before the 15-minute mark when Haris Seferovic passed Steven Zuber to France keeper Hugo Lloris.
France looked indifferent for the remainder of the first half as Switzerland took a 1-0 lead at the break.
The Swiss had a chance to double their lead at the start of the second half when VAR determined that Zuber was fouled at the edge of the field, but Lloris went down and Ricardo Rodriguez to keep France in the game. Key Spot goes down to put the kick out. .
France leveled soon after, when Benzema made a brilliant touch on a pass from Mbappe into the box and then passed Switzerland's Yann Sommer.
And just like that, France took the lead via another Benzema goal, this time as the Real Madrid striker nodded at the goal line with a rebound from Antoine Griezmann, who was intercepted by Sommer on his way.
"To be honest, I am still in shock," said Sommer, who became the most capped Swiss keeper with 65 international appearances. "We showed courage, heart, we left everything there.
"It's unbelievable when you come back from two goals against a world champion, and then win on penalties, I can't be prouder of the way we did."
Paul Pogba, who was a force for France throughout the tournament, put matters to bed in the 75th minute, picking up a loose ball well outside the field and curling the lead in a graceful shot from behind Somer. doubled. From Didier Deschamps.
"We did what we needed to go 3-1 and then we showed weakness, which is unusual for us. Losing on penalties is always cruel to a team," Deschamps said after the match.
"Kylian Mbappe is incredibly sad, as are all players, but no one can be bothered by him as he took responsibility for the fifth penalty."
However, Seferovic led his second of the game after 80 minutes, when he latched onto a graceful curling cross from the right flank to give Switzerland a lifeline and substitute Mario Gavranovic sent the game to extra time. A splendid goal then scored.
Mbappe offered a golden opportunity to win in extra time after Pogba played, but his shot from a tight angle was slammed into the side netting and the game was decided from the penalty spot.
With his spot kick riding on, Mbappe saw Sommer's attempt saved by completing a remarkable comeback for Switzerland and sending France home from the Euros.
"At that stage no one believed us anymore," Sommer said. "We felt that France had become a little complacent and probably thought they had already won it. So we used that to our advantage."
France defender Raphael Varane acknowledged the team's poor play in the game.
"It's very disappointing. We completely ruined our first half. We reacted in the second half but then gave them space and they came back," he said.
"The penalty is a lottery. We could have scored in extra time because we had a chance to do so."
The next match for Switzerland is the quarterfinal match against Spain, who beat Croatia 5–3 in an extra-time thriller earlier in the day.