England beats Switzerland in penalty shootout to reach Euro semifinals

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 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