The world champions begin their knockout stages of Euro 2020 with a tough encounter against Switzerland. France are now favourites to win this competition. With Portugal knocked out, we will have new champions come 11th of July and most people will tip the 2016 finalists to go one better.
Monday 28 June
Arena Naţională (Bucureşti)
To Win Match
France 11/20
Draw 29/10
Switzerland 52/10
France
France topped a very difficult group that had three teams that were in the semi-finals in 2016. They won against Germany, drew with Hungary and Portugal. With 5 points from a possible nine that was good enough to have what some would consider a good draw for the first knock out round where they will play Switzerland.
Les Bleus will be relying on their number 10 Kylian Mbappe who is yet to score in this competition but has been a pain to defenders. The return of Karim Benzema proved to be vital and the Real Madrid star has been impressive in leading the French attack.
As expected, Didier Deschamps men have dominated all of the matches played but they haven’t scored as many goals as we would expect from a side that’s so dominant. Paul Pogba has been super impressive in midfield pulling a Man of the Match performance against Germany and unlucky to score against Portugal.
Switzerland
The Swiss were very flat in their group which saw them finish third and now they have to face the best team in the competition.
They earned four points in their group beating Turkey 3-1, drawing 1-1 with Wales and lost 3-1 to group winners Italy. Switzerland won’t be pushovers and they’ve proved that over the years, their defence is solid and they have some experienced players who play for the biggest teams in Europe so it will be a fight if France are to win.
Nico Elvedi was the only doubt coming to this match, but he has recovered from injury. There are no other injuries and the Swiss will most likely line up just as they did in the group stages.
Verdict: France 11/20
The French are probably one of the most consistent national teams out there at the moment. While they aren’t at their brilliant best at the moment, you feel like they possess more than enough quality to see off the challenge of the Swiss.
