It was another tense night at the Euro 2020 in Bucharest, when tournament favorites, France went head-to-head with Switzerland in their last 16 round tie, another high scoring match like the one that came just before it.
It was a six-goal thriller this time around with the boys from Switzerland making the bigger statement after sending the world champions packing 5-4 on penalties.
Switzerland took a surprise lead in the 15th minute through a Haris Seferovic header, one typical of a striker and should have doubled their lead when Benjamin Pavard fouled Steven Zuber with the penalty given after VAR review, but Ricardo Rodriguez's effort from the resulting penalty was saved by Hugo Lloris.
That moment was the spark that France needed and in a four-minute madness, they turned the game on its head with prodigal striker, Karim Benzema bagging a quickfire brace to give France the lead in the 57th and 59th minutes.
It was almost done and dusted for France when in the 75th minute, Paul Pogba scored a wonder strike from about 25 yards out to take the game out of Switzerland's reach.
Just like we saw in the match between Croatia and Spain, it was not all done yet as Switzerland rallied back with every hair of their breath.
Seferovic again with another powerful header to down the deficit to one on the 81st minute and with almost the final kick of the regular duration, Mario Gavranovic finished a super solo effort after taking a Granit Xhaka pass in his strides to push the game to extra time.
Both teams failed to produce any deciding moment of brilliance in the 30 minutes of extra time and the game would be decided on penalties.
All first nine penalties were scored, but the tenth taken by Kylian Mbappe was superbly saved by Yan Sommer to send the finalists from the last edition packing.
Here are three things we learnt.
1 Wrong French attitude
France had the game in their hands with barely 15 minutes to play and poor game management cost them an opportunity to go one step close than last edition.
Perhaps, a bit of lack of concentration and overconfidence came into play as they crumbled in the final stages.
The Less Blue have now failed to qualify for the quarterfinal of a major tournament for the the first time since the 2010 world cup in South Africa and will have to wait four more years to lay their hands on the European championship title.
What do you think was France's undoing?
2. Deserving Swiss
While France may be criticized for having thrown the game away, due credit must be given to this Switzerland bunch. They could have failed to take it even as France threw it away.
They showed their inner strength and determination even at 3-1 down, they never gave up and looked threatening with every move.
Coach Vladimir Petkovic threw in all his attacking firepower with nothing more to lose and this eventually paid off. He would be proud of his players.
The Swiss have now reached their first quarterfinal of a major tournament since the 1954 world cup, the same tournament in which they last scored at least three goals in consecutive games.
How impressed were you with the Swiss side?
3. Seferovic, Sommer
It was difficult to pick a man of the match from the Switzerland team as all players were deserving of that award.
Each and every player on the field broke sweat and threw in all their arsenal to ensure that their dream of a major tournament title was not dented.
Seferovic may be an easy pick with his two goals proving very vital, taking his tally to four goals in the tournament and an opportunity to still claim the Golden boot.
Yan Sommer is another choice as his sterling saves proved vital to keep Switzerland in the game. More importantly, his final save from Kylian Mbappe's penalty was the ultimate tie clincher.
Who was your man of the match?
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