ATS
This could be another big night for the Swiss team.
As during the crazy night in Bucharest on June 28, 2021, Switzerland has a date with history this Saturday in Berlin (at 6 p.m.) against Italy in the round of 16 of Euro 2024.
This 62nd derby promises a lot. After a convincing first round including a choice performance last Sunday against Germany in Frankfurt (1-1), Switzerland approaches this meeting with well-established certainties which allow it to truly look its opponent eye to eye.
But in the other camp, the “Squadra Azzurra” wants to believe that nothing more can happen to it in this Euro after the equalizer at the end of added time by Mattia Zaccagni on Monday against Croatia (1-1). Without the success of the Lazio player, the Italians would have already packed their bags for an inglorious return to the country.
A “second” life
Today, the defending champions are undoubtedly freed from a weight. Like a tennis player who has saved a match point in the first round, Luciano Spalletti and his players are entitled to a “second” life.
Reading the table of the round of 16 further reinforces the conviction that the possibility of achieving the double like Spain twelve years ago really exists. To reach the final, Italy will not meet France, Germany, Spain or Portugal.
The state of grace that his goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has been going through since the start of the tournament fuels this belief of the double. As also the fact that the Olympiastadion in Berlin will not only be the scene of this round of 16, but also that of the final on July 14. However, no one can ignore the fact that it was on this lawn that the Nazionale won its fourth world crown eighteen years ago.
The Swiss are right not to accept the status of favorite in this round of 16 that many observers offer them. “Italy never dies,” Remo Freuler wisely reminds us. But Switzerland is perhaps not ready to die on Saturday yet. For the first time, she advances into a round of 16 with two world-class players, two players who deserve a thousand times to appear in the next pre-list for the Ballon d’Or.
Manuel Akanji and Granit Xhaka would, in fact, have their place in all the other teams competing in this tournament. Sunday against Germany, the Zurich and Basel players flew through the match with their entire class. If they perform in the same vein on Saturday, there will be hope.
Murat Yakin faces his destiny
Inspired like never before since the start of the tournament with the starting line-ups of Michel Aebischer and Kwadwo Duah against Hungary, Xherdan Shaqiri against Scotland and Fabian Rieder against Germany, Murat Yakin will be managing his 38th match at the helm of the Swiss team. In the event of elimination on Saturday, there is a strong risk that this Switzerland-Italy match will be the last. His contract only runs until the end of the tournament and he rejected an offer of an extension in the spring, much to the surprise of his management.
A victory, on the other hand, will erase the humiliation of the 2022 World Cup round of 16 against Portugal and will make him the greatest coach in history. He will have done better than Roy Hodgson, Köbi Kuhn and Ottmar Hitzfeld. As well as Vladimir Petkovic, but there is no real match between the two men, between the austere style of one and the flamboyant side of the other who does not forget during this Euro to grant himself a half-lap of honour before the match to the great joy of the Swiss fans. When we talk about communion, Murat Yakin is the first to give the host.
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