In a game filled with incidents, Switzerland defeated Serbia 3-2 on Friday to advance to the round of 16 and face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.
The Swiss came in second place in Group G behind Brazil, who advanced to face South Korea despite their 1-0 loss to Cameroon with a much-changed team.
At Stadium 974, Xherdan Shaqiri’s deflected goal gave the Swiss the lead, but Aleksandar Mitrovic’s accomplished header equalized the score for Serbia.
After that, Serbia took the lead thanks to Dusan Vlahovic, but Breel Embolo tied the score just before halftime.
The Swiss advanced to the knockout stages for the fourth time in five World Cups thanks to a superb goal by Remo Freuler early in the second half.
The 2018 tournament encounter between the clubs was marred by animosity as goals were celebrated by Granit Xhaka and Shaqiri with pro-Kosovo gestures that infuriated the Serbs.
After Serbia requested for a penalty in the second half on Friday, tensions erupted, and around 15 minutes later, the stadium announcer demanded an end to “any racist chants and gestures.”
Switzerland, who controlled their own fate, came close to scoring inside the first thirty seconds, but Embolo’s shot was successfully stopped by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, who also palmed away Xhaka’s follow-up.
Andrija Zivkovic of Serbia struck the goalpost with a long, lovely curling shot, and Vlahovic bundled the rebound right into Gregor Kobel’s arms.
