Serbia 2-3 Switzerland: Murat Yakin's men hold on to victory and seal their spot in the last-16, with Remo Freuler's brilliant team goal the difference in fiery clash with European rivals
- Switzerland booked their place in the last-16 with a thrilling victory over Serbia
- Xherdan Shaqiri scored the opening goal and celebrated in front of Serbian fans
- Serbia went ahead through goals by Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic
- Breel Embolo put the sides level before Remo Freuler scored after the break
- Switzerland will now go on to face Portugal in the last-16 on Tuesday evening
Switzerland's World Cup journey continues after they came from behind to beat Serbia 3-2 in a crazy five goal thriller marred by second-half crowd trouble.
Victory for Switzerland confirmed their passage into the Round of Sixteen for the third successive World Cup, where they will face Portugal, whilst Serbia depart the tournament bottom of Group G.
However the joyous celebrations for Switzerland were blemished by crowd trouble in the stands early into the second half, with a FIFA announcement over the PA warning fans about the chanting of discriminatory and political language from within the stands towards the end of the game.
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This was in response to apparent monkey chants that could be heard from certain sections of the stadium, something Serbia head coach Dragan Stojkovic was unaware was happening.
'I have no idea what happened really,' Stojkovic said. 'I can't tell you what happened. I didn't hear it, in my position I was focusing on the gam, and didn't hear the announcement.'
Switzerland came into their final Group G encounter knowing that, if Cameroon failed to beat group winners Brazil, then they would be progressing to the Round of Sixteen for the third consecutive World Cup.
Serbia, who sat bottom of the group with one point, knew only a win would do for them.
After Stojkovic's side dictated the early flow of the game, it was the Swiss that struck the first blow of the match to take the lead twenty minutes in.
Ricardo Rodriguez's low cross was cleared only as far as Djibril Sow, the midfielder immediately teed up Xherdan Shaqiri who, via a deflection, fired past Milinkovic-Savic for his twenty-sixth goal for his country to silence the Serbian supporters.
But it didn't take long for Serbia to respond, and they levelled the match seven minutes later through Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Dusan Tadic was afforded too much time on the Switzerland right-hand side and was able to execute a superb cross onto the head of the oncoming Mitrovic, who delicately flicked the ball past goalkeeper Gregor Kobel into the side netting.
The game was suddenly turned on its head as the Eagles took the lead in the 35th minute. A loose ball after a mistake from Shaqiri fell to the feet of Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic, and the forward repaired the faith shown in him by his manager as he spun and fired into the bottom corner to give the Serbian's a deserved lead.
This topsy-turvy encounter took another twist as Switzerland found themselves back on level terms on the stroke of half-time. The Swiss were able to work the ball out to the right-hand side, fullback Silvan Widmer was afforded too much time before firing across the box to the on-rushing Breel Embolo, who tapped in for his second of the tournament.
Swiss head coach Murat Yakin was full of admiration for the determination his side showed to get back into the match.
'We're happy to have found a way back into the game,' Yakin said. 'It was important for us to focus on the game, before a lot were talking about the situation and we faced that challenge.
'We scored the necessary goals at the right moment.'
The drama didn't stop there as three minutes after the break, the Rossocrociati were back in front. Remo Freuler was able to get onto Ruben Vargas' deft flick before sending Milinkovic-Savic the wrong way and sliding the ball into the bottom right corner to the raptures of the Swiss supporters.
This was the second consecutive match that Serbia had been ahead at some point before conceding three, unacceptable in the eyes of Stojkovic.
'You attack and defend as a team. We reversed the result after going behind, but after we didn't defend well and it was easy for the Swiss to score a second goal which shocked us'
There were calls for a Serbian penalty midway through the second-half after Mitrovic believed he was fouled by Fabian Schar, but referee Fernando Rapallini waived away all appeals, to the disbelief of the Serbian bench.
In the seventy-seventh minute, a PA announcement came on around the Stadium 974, warning fans about the chanting of discriminatory and political language from within the stands. This was the first incident of such crowd behaviour to happen so far this World Cup, which up until now had been praised for the well-behaved nature behaviour of fans.
Despite late pressure from the Eagles, Switzerland hung on for all three points and qualification for the knockout stages, where they will face Group H winners Portugal. Serbia's World Cup journey ends with only a solitary point to their name.
Re-live all the action from the night with Sportsmail's Kieran Lynch below
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