Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic admits missing Admir Mehmedi's equaliser

15 June 2016 22:23

Admir Mehmedi added another spectacular goal to the growing Euro 2016 catalogue - but his boss missed it.

The Switzerland striker's stunning volley cancelled out Bogdan Stancu's penalty and secured a 1-1 draw against Group A rivals Romania in Paris.

But Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic had turned his back on the action and did not witness Mehmedi's 57th-minute thunderbolt.

"I didn't see our goal. I was looking to make a change at the time and I had my back to the action," he told UEFA.com.

"I am told it was excellent and of course it was well deserved. Also, importantly our defence were excellent. Okay, we gave away the penalty but other than that we didn't let them have too many chances."

The Swiss will now go up against hosts France knowing a victory would see them top the group.

"It would be nice to finish top, of course," Petkovic added. "There would be a lot of prestige to do that against the host nation. But second or even third - who knows what would work out easier in terms of the draw?"

Romania were gifted the lead after 18 minutes when Stephan Lichtsteiner pulled Alexandru Chipciu's shirt in the area and Russian referee Sergei Karasev pointed to the spot.

Stancu, who scored a penalty in the opening night defeat against France, made it two from two when he sent Swiss keeper Yann Sommer the wrong way.

But Switzerland hauled themselves level when a half-cleared corner dropped to Mehmedi, who lashed his unstoppable volley past Ciprian Tatarusanu and into the net.

Romania lie in third with just one point but will still fancy their chances of reaching the knock-out stage with group minnows Albania left to face.

Coach Anghel Iordanescu said: " We had two very different halves of football. In the first half, we controlled the ball and the game for some time. We had chances but we missed them. We could have won.

"The second half was dominated by the Swiss and we were under a lot of pressure.

"We're suffering physically. It's hard to play these games. We needed some new players in our starting XI. We were struggling in the second half. There were others I wanted to take off but I couldn't because of injuries.

"We have to win our next game. That's how I see it. But in this game we achieved what we wanted to. After the first half, I told the players to get the second goal and then protect the result, but we couldn't do it."

Source: PA