'Akanji - Dive Left' - Jordan Pickford's water bottle played a huge role in England goalkeeper's penalty heroics as Gareth Southgate's side reach Euro 2024 semi-finals

Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji took Switzerland's first penalty in the shootout but failed to score past Pickford as the Everton custodian perfectly anticipated the shot and parried the ball away. The miss proved to be detrimental for the Swiss as England eventually clinched the clash 5-3 in the tie-breaker. An image of Pickford's water bottle later surfaced on the internet where instructions and details of the opponent players were written. On the bottle beside Akanji's name, 'dive left' was written. The prediction proved to be accurate in the end as the Three Lions' goalkeeper dove to his left to stop the City star from scoring.

Switzerland took the lead through Breel Embolo's strike in the 75th minute but Gareth Southgate's men responded almost immediately as Saka scored a stunning goal from the edge of the box. While the Three Lions managed to pick up yet another hard-fought win to book their berth in the semis, captain Harry Kane's form will be a matter of concern for the manager as he once again failed to score a goal and looked uninspiring on the pitch.

For the third time in the Southgate era, England will play in the semi-final of a major tournament. Before Euro 2024, the team had reached the semi-final of 2018 World Cup and played in the final of Euro 2020.

The Three Lions will be back in action on June 10 against the winner of the final quarter-final clash between Netherlands and Turkey. The last-four clash will take place at Signal Iduna Park.