St Petersburg: On their way out of the Euro 2020, Switzerland produced one of the best underdog performances in the history of the tournamentr. Yet, there was a man who outshone everyone — the Swiss custodian Yann Sommer. Better known as a food blogger in his country, Sommer plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach in Bundesliga.
The 32-year-old Sommer didn’t have the perfect start to his tournament, conceding three goals against Italy in the group stages. His heroic strature came out against France in the pre-quarterfinals when he foiled PSG star Kylian Mbappe in the decisive penalty ousting the defending world champions from of the tournament.
Against Spain in the quarterfinals, Sommer was up in action once again. Despite Switzerland reduced to 10 men, Sommer did an outstanding job under the sticks keeping Spain at a bay. In all Sommer made 10 saves in the match which went on to the penalties.
This was the most by any goalkeeper in the tournament. Although Spain sailed into the semifinals, Sommer made a sublime save during the shootout that even got his counterpart Unai Simon astonished.
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Simon was given the Man of The Match award, but stated that it should have been Sommer winning it and even expressed his desire to hand it to him. “I would have given Sommer the MVP,” Simon was quoted as saying to Spanish daily Marca.
“Football has been fair, we are worthy winners. We must quickly rectify the mistakes and also keep our feet on the ground because a very difficult opponent is coming our way whoever it is,” he added.
Even with Switzerland’s departure, the services of Sommer didn’t go unnoticed. The world hailed him as the best goalkeeper of the tournament and his market value saw an deserving increase of 200 million euros. Personalaties like Swiss tennis legend Rodger Federer was in awe of the Swiss custodian.
Federer tweeted, “Danke Switzerland, it’s been an amazing Sommer, thank you, great effort.” Sommer’s story has provided hope to all the players who have been silently doing a outstanding job, away from the limelight that someday their talent and skillfulness would get the deserving spotlight.
