the round of 16 of the european championship offered us spectacular duels and matches on the verge of heart attack like the game between Switzerland and France where Switzerland was losing three to one with only 10 minutes left but managed to turn the situation around and tie the game to take the match to a penalty shootout and later win in the shootout.
Let's start with the first match of the round of 16 of this Euro 20-21 that began with the duel between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
Netherlands vs Czech Republic
The match between Netherlands and Czech Republic ended with a score 2-0 in favor of Czech Republic with goals from Tomas Holes at the 68th minute and Patrik Schick at the 80th minute, not counting that the Netherlands had their central defender Matthijs de Ligt sent off at the 56th minute, so the Netherlands was left with 10 players for almost 35 minutes.
The second match of the round of 16 of the Eurocup was played by Belgium and Portugal.
Belgium vs Portugal
The match between Belgium and Portugal was a very close match with Cristiano Ronaldo always looking for the goal in every match and leaving everything for the team but it was not enough because Belgium with Thorgan Hazard at the 42nd minute of the first half scored the only goal of the match with which Belgium would defeat the Portugal of Cristiano Ronaldo who came as one of the favorites to revalidate the title.
The third match of this round of 16 of the Euro 20-21 was the match played between Croatia and Spain in an epic duel and that was not defined until the extra time where Spain would end up crushing the Croatian team with 2 goals to leave them out of this Eurocup.
The match started with the Spanish team with its touch game and threatening from the beginning and bothering the Croatian team that would end up getting ahead on the scoreboard with a lucky goal by Pedri in the 20th minute in his own goal after a serious mistake by the goalkeeper Unai Simon since that The Croatian team grew in adversity and now they would be the ones who would command the game until the last 5 minutes where Spain recovered the memory and managed to equalize the match with a goal by Pablo Sarabia in the 38th minute to go to the break with the score tied 1-1.
In the second half the Spanish team dominated the entire second half scoring 2 goals by Cesar Azpilicueta in the 57th minute and Ferran Torres in the 77th minute to leave the Croatians almost eliminated but a goal by Mislav Orsic in the 85th minute gave life to a Croatian team that would end up getting the equalizer after a Mario Pasalic in injury time to go to an extra time full of uncertainty.
In extra time, a goal by Alvaro Morata in the 100th minute and another goal by Mikel Oyarzabal in the 103rd minute gave the Croatians the lead.
The fourth match was undoubtedly the best game of the round of 16 was played between France and Switzerland in which the surprising Swiss team eliminated the world champions and the favorite to win the Euro 20-21.
The French came out with an aggressive stance for the Round of 16 clash. However, 15 minutes into the game, they were caught off guard by Switzerland. Steven Zuber broke down the left flank and sent in a cross that was headed in by Haris Seferovic in front of Clement Lenglet, who did not even jump to contest the ball.
The goal evened the match. Switzerland shook off the French domination and were even more dangerous than the world champions, who in the first half only came close to Yann Sommer's goal with an individual play by Adrien Rabiot at 22', which was deflected by the goalkeeper.
The VAR appeared at 53' to sanction a penalty kick in favor of the Swiss after a foul by Benjamin Pavard on Steven Zuber. However, Ricardo Rodriguez missed the spot kick that could have made it 2-0. Hugo Lloris' save woke up France and in two minutes they reversed the score.
Kylian Mbappé missed France's first clear play, which took place until 56'. At 57', Karim Benzema appeared to make it 1-1, after a mistake in the Swiss' exit, the same sin they committed two minutes later, when the same Real Madrid striker made it 2-1 with a header.
France took control of the match and at 75' scored the third with a great goal by Paul Pogba, who shot a right-footed shot that went into the corner of the net before Yann Sommer's flight, an action that made the play even more spectacular.
Switzerland reacted at 81' with another header by Haris Seferovic from Kevin Mbabu's cross to make it 3-2 and just in the 90' Mario Gavranovic appeared in front of Hugo Lloris to score the third, which sent the series to extra time.
In extra time, the highlights of the match were Yann Sommer's hand save to keep out Benjamin Pavard's goal at 95', a couple of chances for Kylian Mbappé to score the fourth, but both went wide, as well as a header by Olivier Giroud that was saved by the Swiss goalkeeper, so the series was decided from the penalty spot.
The first nine shots of the penalty shootout ended up in the net. However, Kylian Mbappé, in charge of the fifth for France, missed his shot, which was saved by Yann Sommer, thus eliminating the world champions from the European Championship.
The penultimate match of the Round of 16 of EURO 20-21 pitted England against Germany in one of the best matches of the Round of 16.
The match starts with Timo Werner moving the ball from the center circle with Germany having possession of the ball in the first minutes.
In the 15th minute Neuer makes a save from Sterling's shot from outside the box and sends it into the corner to save the German team.
In the 32nd minute it was Pickford who saved England Havertz controlled the ball and played a through ball to Timo Werner who missed the Germans' clearest chance of the first half.
Just at the beginning of the second half Pickford saved again the English team by making a save from Havertz who took the ball outside the box and put a dangerous shot that the Englishman put away for a corner.
In the 75th minute Sterling opened the scoring after a left diagonal from the feet of Luke Shaw.
In the 80th minute Tomas Muller missed the clearest chance of the whole match after a serious error by England at the start, Havertz's pass to Muller who is one on one with the goalkeeper but the attacker shoots the ball and it goes near the post.
In the 85th minute England sentenced the match with a goal by Harry Kane to beat the German national team and go to the quarterfinals as one of the great favorites.
But it also broke a curse of 44 years without beating the German national team.
The last match of the round of 16 of Euro 20-21 was a heart-stopping match between Sweden and Ukraine which ended 2-1 in favor of the team led by 44-year-old Andriy Shevchenko.
The match started with Sweden imposing their style shown in the group stage.
In the 10th minute Olsen had the first clear chance of the match for Ukraine.
In the 19th minute Isak ed, a Real Sociedad striker, received a pass from Kulusevski inside the box and shot narrowly wide.
In the 27th minute Ukraine opened the scoring with a three-finger cross to Zinchenko for a left-footed shot that Olsen couldn't keep out.
In the 43rd minute Sweden tied the match thanks to a shot from half distance, there was a slight deflection off Illya Zabarnyi and the ball went into the net to tie the match on the stroke of halftime.
In the 100th minute of extra time, the referee sent off Marcus Danielson to leave Sweden with 10 men.
Artem Dovbyk scored the winning goal for the Ukrainians in stoppage time when it was all over and gave them the pass to the quarterfinals with a hard-fought victory.