Three years on from losing the European Championship final on penalties, England beat Switzerland in a shootout to reach the semifinals of Euro 2024.
Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the winner as England swept all of its penalties to win the shootout 5-3 after a 1-1 draw in extra time on Saturday.
“The team showed a lot of character, belief, heart and spirit out there,” Alexander-Arnold told the BBC.
England converted its first four penalties and Alexander-Arnold won the game with the fifth, blasting his shot into the top corner. Another who scored was Bukayo Saka, who missed the last penalty kick of the final shootout in 2021 against Italy and was racially abused on social media.
“To come back from something like that was really difficult. I used that to make me stronger. Today I took the chance and I’m happy. It was special, special, how we fought back … Last time we took a penalty shootout at the Euros, you all know what happened. I’m so proud of everyone how we got over the line.
“I believed. I felt that we dominated the whole game, that the chance [for a goal] will come. And it did come and I was the one that took it, so I’m proud of myself for that. I think it shows how much we want to win this tournament, the last two games we’ve been one-nil down and we’ve come back. Hopefully next game we can probably win in the 90 minutes, but if this is what it takes, we’ll do anything.”
Saka also scored tying goal
Saka also equalized earlier to ensure the game went to extra time after the Swiss took the lead.
The other shootout scorers were Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham and Ivan Toney, who returned in January from an eight-month ban for breaching betting rules.
England was in the lead in the shootout after goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved from Manuel Akanji, who took Switzerland’s first penalty kick.
England goes on to play Turkey or the Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday for a spot in the final.
Switzerland, which has never reached the semifinals of a major tournament, exits the European Championship on penalties in the quarterfinals for the second time running after defeat to Spain three years ago.
It was the second game in a row that England left it late to win, after beating Slovakia 2-1 in extra time in the last 16.
The quarterfinal went to extra time after England forward Saka scored with a shot off the post in the 80th minute to cancel out Breel Embolo’s goal five minutes earlier for Switzerland. It was the first shot on target for England in what was otherwise a cagey and cautious performance from the 2021 runner-up.
The Swiss had the better chances to win in extra time, including substitute Xherdan Shaqiri hitting the frame of the goal direct from a corner. Pickford saved from substitute Zeki Amdouni in the 119th to keep England in the game.
England was without captain and striker Harry Kane for the shootout after he collided with manager Gareth Southgate on the touchline while challenging for a ball and appeared to be hurt. He was replaced by Toney.
Taking charge of his 100th game on Saturday, Southgate has now taken England to at least the semifinals in three of the four major tournaments in his eight-year tenure.