Swiss captain Xhaka suspended for quarterfinal against Spain

Saint Petersburg, July 2, 2021 (AFP) - Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic made one enforced change to his team for Friday's Euro 2020 quarterfinal against Spain, with Denis Zakaria replacing the suspended Granit Xhaka in midfield.

Xhaka, the Switzerland captain, is banned after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament in the last-16 victory over world champions France on penalties.

Jordi Alba and Pau Torres return to the Spain defence in place of Eric Garcia and Jose Gaya following the 5-3 extra-time win over Croatia.

Luis Enrique's side have scored 10 times in their past two games after netting just once in the opening two matches.

The winner of the tie will face Belgium or Italy in the semifinals at Wembley on July 6.

Switzerland (3-4-1-2)

Yann Sommer; Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji, Silvan Widmer; Steven Zuber, Remo Freuler, Denis Zakaria, Ricardo Rodriguez; Xherdan Shaqiri (capt); Breel Embolo, Haris Seferovic

Coach: Vladimir Petkovic (SUI)

Spain (4-3-3)

Unai Simon; Cesar Azpilicueta, Pau Torres, Aymeric Laporte, Jordi Alba; Pedri, Sergio Busquets (capt), Koke; Ferran Torres, Alvaro Morata, Pablo Sarabia

Coach: Luis Enrique (ESP)

Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)