Switzerland clearly loses to Spain despite long numerical superiority

Geographically, there are around 600 kilometers between Switzerland and Spain. But in terms of football, the European champions are the border that the Swiss national team wants to orient itself towards. As a reminder: During the European Championship, the utopian dream that captain Granit Xhaka would be presented with the trophy after the final became a completely conceivable scenario.

So the away game of the title holders two months after the tournament is the ideal test to find out: Has Murat Yakin’s team really lifted itself to a new level at the European Championships? The preliminary match on Thursday in Denmark left the answer open due to the unjustified pitch conditions against Nico Elvedi. But when a quarter of an hour had been played three days later in the Stade de Genève, the atmosphere was initially sobering: Spain were already leading 2-0 through Joselu (4th) and Fabian (13th). In front of both goals, wingers Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal ruffled the Swiss defense. For opponents Remo Freuler (Yamal) and Grégory Wüthrich (Williams), the duels with the assist providers were a borderline experience in the negative sense: No chance!

What makes the whole thing even more bitter from the Swiss perspective: There are question marks over both goals conceded. It remains unclear whether the ball completely crossed the line when the score was 0-1. However, because according to the Swiss Football Association, goal-line technology is not used in the Nations League and the VAR cannot prove otherwise, the goal remains. And before the 0-2, Michel Aebischer is slightly pushed by Yamal on the halfway line, which leads to the loss of the ball and the Spanish counterattack.

Switzerland has VAR bad luck twice

The decisions of the referee team offer even more potential for frustration: If they take back the final 1:1 by Becir Omeragic because of Freuler’s previous handball, they would also have to punish the same offence by Yamal in the prescribed penalty area – and award a penalty to Switzerland.

The fact that these controversial scenes even occurred suggests that the Swiss are picking themselves up after the false start and are increasingly impressing – especially when going forward. The industrious Ruben Vargas, the beefy Breel Embolo and the agile Zeki Amdouni pose problems for the Spaniards, who are almost at full strength. When Embolo escapes from the halfway line after 20 minutes, Robin Le Normand can only stop him with a foul – and is sent off by referee Irfan Peljto. Amdouni hits the crossbar with the free kick that follows and then has more luck after a Vargas corner when the ball falls at his feet via Embolo – only 1:2.

Zakaria disappoints as Xhaka replacement

Murat Yakin makes the fourth substitution after the 0-2 defeat in Denmark. Wüthrich in the three-man defense and Zakaria in midfield replace the suspended Elvedi and Xhaka, Amdouni is preferred over Rieder and Omeragic plays for Widmer, who is out at short notice.

For Zakaria, it is a personal test: can he orchestrate the Swiss game in Xhaka’s absence? The verdict was: No. The Monaco professional was taken off and had to go off after 62 minutes. It was to be expected that Wüthrich would also struggle: there are more rewarding tasks than making his debut in the starting eleven for the national team against the currently best team in Europe. And Omeragic? He made an early statement with the cancelled equaliser (7th minute), but paid the price defensively in some scenes.

This was also the case a quarter of an hour before the end, when substitute Ferran Torres escaped from the left wing and passed the ball back to Fabian, who was running alongside him, restoring Spain’s two-goal lead. The fact that the visitors were 4-1 up in the 80th minute must give the Swiss something to think about: the fact that goalscorer Torres can go at Gregor Kobel alone from the halfway line cannot be allowed to happen – especially not when they are in the majority.

And this was the conclusion after the stress test against the European champions: Maybe not 600 kilometers as on the map, but also in football terms the Nati is still a long way away from the admirable Spaniards.

The game can be read in the live ticker: