Euros last 16 preview: France and Spain to edge past Switzerland and Croatia?

There’s more Euros knockout action on Monday as Croatia face an in-form Spain while Switzerland look up against it with France. 

We preview the two games from the last 16 here and take a look at the latest odds.

Spain look a threat after bagging five

After drawing their first two group games against Sweden and Poland, the Spanish looked like they hadn’t quite found their feet at this year’s Euros tournament. However, those doubters were duly silenced when they put in a polished performance to beat Slovakia 5-0 and secure second place in Group E and progress to the last 16 of the European Championship on Wednesday. Their opponents Slovakia were of course not the strongest of teams that they could have beaten but beat them they certainly did.

Slovakia came into the fixture against Spain on the back of a win over Sweden, who had already held the Spanish to a goalless draw. The Luis Enrique-managed Spain side will be grateful for the confidence boost as we now enter the knockout stages, although in Croatia they will face a tougher opponent on Monday than they have seen so far in the campaign.

Croatia, like Spain, had a slow start to their tournament with a loss to England and a draw against Czech Republic, but they were able to put this behind them to secure a 3-1 victory over Scotland on Tuesday. After Scotland equalised on the verge of half-time it would have been an anxious break for the Balkan side, but they came out after the interval in a professional way and in scoring twice they shattered the dreams of the Tartan Army.

Despite collecting just one more point than Croatia in the group stages, Spain arrive in Copenhagen as the 6/10 favourites, while Luka Modric’s men are the 6/1 underdogs. 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia are not fancied to take the beating of the 2010 World Cup champions, however, they are a team capable of better than what they’ve shown so far. For that reason, it would also be worthwhile to mention the price of a draw after 90 minutes, which at 5/2 could be lodged under the appealing category. After all, it is the last 16 of a major tournament and extra-time could beckon… Work out your potential winnings with our easy-to-use online betting calculator.

Swiss have an alp to climb in Bucharest

There will be no love lost between neighbours France and Switzerland in the late Monday kick-off, where the former have it all to lose and the latter have everything to play for.

Switzerland’s journey to the last 16 hasn’t been straightforward, having been held to a draw by Wales in the opener and then suffering a 3-0 defeat against the impressive Italy. They were able to get back on track with victory over Turkey but facing France will be a different sort of challenge. The Swiss have performed admirably at times in the group stages and if they are to have a chance in this fixture the likes of Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri will need to be performing at their very best. If so, then perhaps an upset could be on the cards, with Switzerland available at 6/1.

It would be fair to say that favourites France haven’t been at their best so far in the tournament and the World Cup holders certainly have more in their locker which, given the quality of players at their disposable, could be drawn upon at any moment. Having said that, they were still able to top Group F – the group of death. Having beaten Germany in the opener they then had to settle for two draws against Hungary and Portugal. Their fixture against Portugal wasn’t short of drama and having seen some placid games so far in the tournament it was a welcome slice of action.

Karim Benzema was the sole France goal scorer in their 2-2 draw against Portugal and now he has opened his account with two goals you can expect more from the Real Madrid striker. He is 7/2 to pick up from where he left off in Wednesday’s game and open the scoring against Switzerland. Meanwhile, the straight win on France can be backed at 8/15.

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