England fans go wild as the Swiss miss and penalty heroes shoot us into semi-final joy

THE Three Lions pulled off the Great Escape Part II in Germany after clawing their way past Switzerland on penalties in a nerve-shredding Euro 2024 quarter-final.

- Jerry Lawton

England shrugged off one of the worst spot-kick records in world football to book a place in the semi-final in Dortmund at 8pm on Wednesday.

The tense game ended 1-1 after extratime, with both sides unable to break the deadlock. England then faced a penalty shootout without their captain and de facto penalty taker Harry Kane, who had been replaced by Ivan Toney in the second half of extra time.

But the Lions scored all five penalties to claim a place in the semi-finals.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was the hero saving from Manuel Akanji. But three of England's spotkick kings - Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold had never missed a penalty.

Toney has scored 31 out of 33 to have one of the best long-term records in the football.

For Bukayo Saka, who netted the other, after equalising earlier in the game for England, it was redemption following his devastating miss in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.

Speaking after his winning penalty, Alexander-Arnold said: "It is what we have practiced. When the gaffer said I was taking one, I enjoy it and I practice it - I knew I had to just execute it. All five penalties from us were great."

Saka added: "Last time we took a penalty shoot-out at the Euros we know what happened. I believed.

"I felt like we dominated the whole game and the chance would come and I took it. I am proud of myself for that."

The 5-3 victory triggered wild scenes inside the Merkur Spiel-Arena Dusseldorf. Noise levels hit 95 decibels louder than a pneumatic drill firing away in the ears of all 46,533 supporters.

Beer flew as 25,000 England fans inside the stadium lost it - including a watching Prince of Wales, golfing royalty Ian Poulter and telly pundit Chris Kamara.