Fabian Schar picks up unwanted record as England send him packing back to Newcastle after penalty shootout

Newcastle United duo Kieran Trippier and Fabian Schar faced off in Dusseldorf in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 while Anthony Gordon was yet again forced to watch on from the bench.

It was an improved performance by England in many ways after Gareth Southgate tweaked the system, but the same problems did persist, mainly a lack of urgency and too much negativity.

Neither side registered a single shot on target during the first half, and we had to wait until 75 minutes for the deadlock to be broken when Breel Embolo poked home from close range for Switzerland.

That forced Southgate to make three changes which injected a bit of momentum back into the side and it took just five minutes for England to level things up as Bukayo Saka hit a trademark goal, cutting in from the flank and firing a low left-footed shot into the bottom corner via the post.

Getty Images

Fabian Schar played his way into the history books

That took the game to extra time where once again, neither side really looked like scoring, but if any team looked likely it was actually Switzerland and it may well have been Newcastle's very own Fabian Schar who snatched it.

The ball went into the box and ultimately found its way to Fabian Schar, unmarked just inside the are, and instead of taking a touch, Schar opted to hit a first-time volley that screwed high and wide. A few moments later, Schar whipped in a superb cross that somehow evaded everyone in a red shirt.

Fabi was involved quite a lot in the game, picking up an early yellow card in the game which put him into the record books as the player with the most yellow cards in international tournaments in history.

Penalties almost seemed inevitable

It almost seemed inevitable that the game would head for penalties which put England fans on edge, as always. As far as Newcastle were concerned, only Fabian Schar remained on the pitch at that point.

England scored all five of their penalties and each one was just as cool as the last. Jordan Pickford saved Switzerland's first penalty, putting them on the back foot straight away. Fabian Schar stepped up to take the second Swiss penalty and despatched his with a similar level of cool and class as the England lads, but it wasn't meant to be for the Newcastle man who now heads back to Tyneside.

England somehow march on into the semi-finals. Is anyone else starting to believe that Southgate is actually going to fluke this? If he does, hopefully, he bows out on top rather than deciding to stick around. Even if he wins us this tournament, I'd still want him gone.