Eurocup | Mbappé fails, Spain snorts

Football is full of unique stories, unpredictable scripts, unforeseen outcomes. The one in Bucharest between France and Switzerland enters fully into the catalog of epic, magical matches. So much so that the ending couldn't have been more dramatic. Mbappé, the star for whom some sigh so much, the footballer for whom Madrid is willing to throw the house out the window, missed the decisive penalty and the Swiss will face Spain in the quarterfinals. Incredible, anthological, real.

All of the above was a succession of events and pirouettes, a roller coaster of emotions with which to reconcile forever with football. France was touched, then resurrected and finally ended up on the canvas, mortally wounded like the great champion that she is. This time the combination of his prodigious attack and the decisive penalty saved by Lloris in the second half was not enough to keep him alive. This team overwhelms more than it plays, it hits more than it creates. And that, in the end, has its consequences.

Furthermore, Deschamps' change of drawing proved a failure. The French defense was a wall with holes, despite incorporating one more footballer compared to previous games. Lenglet was tender, in line with the season at Barça, and Rabiot had to perform as a lane when his game is not exactly two-way. The scheme was a carbon copy of that of Switzerland, although much less worked and penetrated.

The Swiss Army knife worked, as always. Do not expect great displays of this team, but a reliability that many candidates for the title would already like. With Spain turned on the television to know its rival in the quarterfinals, the first slap was struck by Switzerland. The incombustible Zuber hung the ball from the left and Seferovic finished off before the indolence of Lenglet, who marked him with the softness of a sponge. Lloris couldn't get there either. The goal blew up the cabals and hypotheses.

France trailed behind on the scoreboard for the third straight game, although this time without the net of a group stage. Here there were no jokers or second chances, it was time to pick up the flag and plant it on the grass to say that France is the world champion. In that hero costume, Mbappé was expected, who played faster than well. Among the many records that he manages, it is not the pause that stands out the most, when sometimes the plays require stopping and thinking. Benzema did show finesse and Griezmann was lost in the labyrinth of legs until he left the center.

Deschamps reacted quickly to the hieroglyph. He removed the Lenglet sponge cake and put Coman in. France went on to play with four behind and took risks typical of a team on the wire. He was before on the verge of the KO, that is the reality, when Pavard committed a penalty on Zuber. Martínez Munuera, from the VAR, alerted a Rapallini who had not seen him, but Lloris appeared to say that France also has a goalkeeper, and one of the good ones. His stop at Ricardo Rodríguez was key to everything that followed.

Because France, pushed more emotionally than football, turned on the machinery and unleashed a real storm. The tornado was named after Karim Benzema, who in two roars turned the scoreboard and the match. Mbappé assisted him in the first, before defining over Sommer; the second, in the middle of the hurricane, consisted of pushing a ball over the line after a wonderful internship by Griezmann.

Already ahead on the scoreboard, France felt as comfortable as it had been before. There was time for delights, such as Pogba's goal that slipped through the squad and for Mbappé's races, which with spaces was happy. The French and their coach saw themselves in the quarterfinals, an unforgivable mistake for a team that aspired to the European throne.

Because in this European Championship of heroes, of unexpected protagonists, of agonizing endings, Switzerland did not surrender and obtained a reward that seemed impossible. The feat was provoked by Seferovic and Gavranovic in the final moments. They only needed nine minutes to send the game into extra time. The header from the starting striker meant holding on to the epic, while the right hand from the front of the substitute definitely unleashed the madness – not without subsequent scare due to a shot at the crossbar by Coman in the last action.

Deschamps's plans were blown up, with Griezmann already substituted, Benzema was also out due to some annoyances and Mbappé completely meltedor, as seen in the clearer action of overtime. His shot, with almost no strength, was the preamble to what happened on penalties. They all put theirs in except him. At 22, in the eyes of the whole world, when Europe already reserved a place for him as the legitimate heir of Messi and Cristiano, he ran into Sommer and put a movie ending to a game for history.