The China Mail - Spain see off spirited Swiss to reach Euro 2025 semi-finals

Athenea del Castillo and Claudia Pina scored the goals in the second half in Bern to give La Roja deserved passage to the last four where they will face either France or Germany on Wednesday.

But Montse Tome's team didn't have it all their own way as hosts Switzerland put up a brave fight in front of a passionate crowd at the Wankdorf Stadium.

The Swiss survived an early scare when Mariona Caldentey shot wide a ninth-minute penalty and from there did a great job in gumming up Spain's usually free-flowing football.

Pia Sundhage's players acquitted themselves brilliantly in their home tournament and were given a loud round of applause from the majority of the nearly 30,000 supporters.

The Swiss, who finished the match with 10 women after Noelle Maritz was sent off in the final minute, had never progressed past the group stage of a Euros before and in the end Spain proved to be too much for the team ranked 23rd in the world.

Spain meanwhile overcame a serious test of patience before their superior quality eventually prevailed, with Alexia Putellas' wasted penalty late on changing nothing.

An already raucous home crowd roared with delight when Caldentey scuffed wide her spot-kick after the Arsenal forward was brought down by Nadine Riesen.

But that didn't discourage Spain who dealt well with the fervent atmosphere and some fierce tackling but struggled to find a way through the home team's packed defence.

The efforts that Spain did have on goal were wayward with a series of potshots and blocked efforts before Irene Paredes headed Pina's corner onto the post two minutes before half-time.

The same pattern continued after the break with Spain probing and bumping against both a Swiss wall and the woodwork.

Patri Guijarro headed another corner onto the post and in the ensuing scramble Esther Gonzalez somehow contrived to strike the other post in front of an open goal.

It didn't look like it was going to be Spain's night but del Castillo finally made the breakthrough in the 66th minutes -- four minute after replacing Caldentey -- collecting Aitana Bonmati's through ball and rolling home the goal which ended Switzerland's spirited resistance.

Pina whipped home a wonderful second goal five minutes later and that was that for the Swiss, who at least had one more thing to cheer for when Livia Peng pushed out Putellas' weak spot-kick with two minutes remaining.

H.Ng--ThChM