Romania produced a dogged performance to claim a 1-1 draw against Switzerland and keep their Euro 2016 hopes alive.
Stephan Lichsteiner gave away a penalty when he tugged Alexandru Chipciu’s shirt and Bogdan Stancu converted from the spot despite falling as he struck the ball.
The equaliser came from Romania’s failure to clear a corner and Admir Mehmedi pounced with a rasping 12 yard strike.
Here’s a comprehensive overview of every player on the pitch:
Romania
Ciprian Tatarunasu – 7
Romania’s defensive mindset made the role of goalkeeper an important one as Tatarunasu made five saves.
Razvan Rat – 6
Contained Xherdan Shaqiri well but only had a passing success rate of 50%.
Dragos Grigore – 6.5
Grigore was vital to Romania’s defensive play and made numerous interceptions and challenges to thwart the Swiss.
Vlad Chiriches – 7
The captain was excellent and did a superb job to nullify Switzerland’s attack.
Cristian Sapunaru – 8
Sapunaru was Romania’s best player, winning 80% of his defensive challenges and was unlucky not score with a shot that crashed the woodwork.
Mihai Pintilii – 5
The defensive midfielder had little influence on the contest and was substituted after the first half.
Andrei Prepelita – 7
Prepelita had a decent defensive showing, winning 70% of his challenges and had a pass success rate of 76% to keep the Romanian midfield compact.
Alexandru Chipciu – 5
The winger had a tough time flourishing in a defensive system.
Bogdan Stancu – 7
The hero from the penalty spot yet again, Stancu held his nerve and was one of his side’s main attacking threats.
Gabriel Torje – 6
Turned in a disciplined performance with more tackles than shots on goal.
Claudio Keseru – 6
Keseru performed admirably despite his team’s conservative play and still carved out four efforts on goal.
Substitutes
Ovidiu Hoban – 6
Did a wonderful job to help preserve a point when he replaced Pintilii.
Steliano Filip – 6
Again, another player who played an important role of seeing the game against after replacing Rat.
Florin Andone – N/A
Came on for the last 10 minutes and had little impact.
Switzerland
Yann Sommer – 6
Romania hardly tested Sommer who had a comfortable match in goal aside from the penalty.
Stephan Lichtsteiner – 5
Gave away the penalty for a careless shirt pulling incident and lacked his normal urgency down the flanks.
Fabian Schar – 6.5
A composed and defensively solid display from the centre-back.
Johan Djourou – 7
Did a great job at thwarting Romanian counter-attacks and assisted the opening goal with a neat pass.
Ricardo Rodriguez – 7.5
Was one of Switzerland’s best attacking threats and was involved in the opening goal.
Valon Behrami – 8
One of the best players on the pitch, dominating midfield with accurate passes and perfectly timed challenges.
Granit Xhaka – 8.5
Arsenal fans will be over the moon with this signing after another classy display that showcased his all-action game from midfield.
Xherdan Shaqiri – 5
Had a poor display by his standards and his lack of fluency stalled numerous Swiss attacks.
Blerim Dzemaili – 6
Had a number of shots on goal and was a solid creative outlet but his end product let him down.
Admir Mehmedi – 7
Switzerland’s saviour with the equaliser after a powerful volley and linked up well with the midfield.
Haris Seferovic – 5
Experienced a torrid time against the Romanian defence, failing to carve out any clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.
Substitutes
Breel Embolo – 5
The 19-year-old replaced Seferovic in an attempt to find a winning goal but could not produce the goods.
Michael Lang – N/A
Was introduced with less than 10 minutes to play and had little influence.
Shani Tarashaj – N/A
Brought on in the 90th minute.
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