Euro 2024 – live: England reaction, news and analysis after penalty heroics

The first half showed flashes of improvement from a slightly altered Three Lions line-up, and Gareth Southgate’s side dominated, but they were too often pedestrian as Switzerland looked comfortable in defence.

The second half started in the same way, but the Swiss turned the tables with a spell of dominance that later provoked a surprise goal, with Breel Embolo giving them the lead on the 75th minute.

England looked wary and worried, and the subs came on, but Bukayo Saka rifled in an effort from outside the box to take it to extra time.

That was an equally torrid affair for the England faithful, with Switzerland looking the more likely to get the winner, but the 30 minutes passed and England were heading to penalties once again.

A realm that’s carried plenty of heartbreak for england, but not this time; all five England players scored their efforts, so all it needed was a save from Jordan Pickford to send the Three Lions into the semi-finals.

But how did each player perform? Here are The Independent’s player ratings:

The manager also admitted some of the “personal” criticism of his management had been “difficult” to take, after sections of the media including former England players took aim at his coaching skills.

Germany, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey all fell at the quarter-final stage, as Spain set up a mouth-watering clash with France and England squeezed through to face Netherlands.

The semi-finals will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday night, before Sunday’s final in Berlin.

Here is the full fixture schedule for the Euro 2024 knockout stages:

For the second time in two days, the home team went out of Euro 2024. If Germany are the hosts, the Turkish diaspora had made Berlin feel as if it stood on the banks of the Bosphorus. They were little more than 20 minutes from a semi-final in Dortmund which, given the Ruhr’s vast Turkish population, could have seemed like another home game.

But then came the Dutch comeback. The Netherlands eliminated the West German hosts in Euro ’88. They silenced the Turkish locals in Euro 2024. Two goals in seven minutes set up a showdown with England and takes Ronald Koeman closer to the double of winning the European Championship as player and manager.

A first semi-final for the Netherlands in a decade represents an achievement for Koeman, a manager whose selections and tactical nous have been questioned during this tournament. A fightback could be traced to his half-time decision to deploy his Plan B earlier than usual and bring on Wout Weghorst. Just as in the 2022 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina, Weghorst changed the game.

England are through to the semi-finals of Euro 2024 after seeing off Switzerland in a penalty shootout.

Jordan Pickford was the star as he saved Manuel Akanji’s penalty, with Trent Alexander-Arnold wrapping up a 5-3 triumph to spark bedlam in Dusseldorf after a 1-1 draw.

Here, we look at the Three Lions’ shootout record at previous major tournaments.

With former England boss Roy Hodgson watching from the Royal Box, a huge cheer broke out around Centre Court as news of England’s win on penalties against Switzerland filtered through.

That prompted Djokovic to take an imaginary spot-kick, with Popyrin putting up his hands to mimic a save.

Not only did he equalise for England with a fine individual strike to cancel out Breel Embolo’s opener – to make it 1-1 and take the match to extra-time – he took the third of the five penalties all scored by Gareth Southgate’s side to secure a 5-3 win in the shoot-out.

Saka was one of three players who missed his penalty in the Euro 2020 final loss to Italy at Wembley and, as well as Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, who were the other takers who failed from 12 yards, was racially abused online in the aftermath.

Since then the Arsenal forward has morphed into a key player for club and country, scoring 10 of the 11 penalties he has taken for the Gunners following the harrowing experience.

Jordan Pickford used a secret sheet of notes taped to a drinks bottle to help England triumph over Switzerland in their Euro 2024 quarter-final.

The match finished 1-1 at full-time after Breel Embolo’s second-half goal was soon matched by Bukayo Saka’s trademark finish, and it stayed that way through extra time. But England put together a perfect penalty shootout, scoring all five of their kicks to progress to the semi-finals.

Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Ivan Toney scored before Trent Alexander-Arnold converted the winning kick, after Pickford had saved Switzerland’s first penalty from Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji.

Images later revealed the goalkeeper’s penalty prop. Under the title “Switzerland penalty taker list,” the bottle had each Swiss player’s name next to an instruction.

England’s former players hailed the courage and execution of the current generation after Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squeezed past Switzerland on penalties at Euro 2024.

The match finished 1-1 at full-time after Breel Embolo’s second-half goal was soon matched by Bukayo Saka’s trademark finish, and it stayed that way through extra time. But England put together a perfect penalty shootout, scoring all five of their kicks to progress to the semi-finals.

Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Ivan Toney scored before Trent Alexander-Arnold converted the winning kick, after Jordan Pickford had saved Switzerland’s first penalty from Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji.

England and manager Southgate have come in for stinging criticism during the tournament after several underwhelming displays, with Gary Lineker describing the 1-1 draw with Denmark as “s***” on his podcast. But an improved showing against Switzerland, followed by five precise penalties, brought out high praise.