The day of the European Championship has been crazy, two extra time, penalty shootouts, many goals, comebacks of the four teams with agonizing endings. The fans of Spain, France, Switzerland and Croatia experienced a roller coaster of emotions. And no person expresses it better than a Swiss fan who came to the National Arena in Bucharest.
This fan has gone viral for going from utter despair at seeing his team’s goal disallowed in the final minutes to total ecstasy, with Gavranovic’s goal in the 89th minute to make it 3-3. The Swiss supporter appears with a cap and shirt of his national team in the first act, but in the second, he went crazy, and the cameras caught him first taking off his shirt and then shouting the goal with all his fury. Well, they have found him. His name is Luca Loutenbach, a 28-year-old Switzerland fan.
Being unable to explain his emotions and gestures during an interview, the young Swiss said: “I don’t know what’s happening to me,” says the young Swiss. Then, he laughs and adds: “I think everyone who knows me has written to me.
Loutenbach tries to follow his national team at every game. The third match he attended at this European Championship was France and Switzerland on 28.06.2021, after the two games in Baku against Wales and Turkey. “I try as much as possible not to miss a match. But logistically, it was almost impossible to travel from Baku to Rome and back,” he almost apologized for not being able to go to all the matches.
June 28 was one of the most memorable days for him as a Swiss fan after beating the world champions: “It is the most beautiful day in the history of Swiss soccer. It is the culmination of the immense work of the Swiss Federation, Petkovic and the whole team”. Swiss Air has offered Loutenbach a free Business Class round trip to St Petersburg for the quarter-final, as well as tickets to the game. He was asked if he will go to St. Petersburg on Friday to watch the match against Spain: “Of course I would like to go to the stadium, but you have to look at the dimensions of the Covid. The delta variant complicates things,” says Loutenbach. Nevertheless, we’d all love to see him in the stands of the Russian stadium.
