Euro 24: Switzerland – Italy: the match you didn’t see

The configuration of the Berlin Olympic Stadium, with this impressive gap, is as delightful for the eyes as it is impractical when it comes to placing the blocks of supporters of the two teams on either side of the enclosure. Italian fans didn’t see too many disadvantages on Saturday, except perhaps that of having to watch the match with the sun in their eyes. On the other hand, the Swiss group found itself literally cut in two, separated by the breach. Not ideal for creating a homogeneous atmosphere and giving echo to songs. Whatever… The Swiss supporters led the meeting magnificently, emulating the performance of their national team. From the first to the last second, they performed better than Italy.

Have you ever heard about the layout of the Olympic stadium in Berlin, with its impressive gap and the sun in the eyes of the Italian fans? Well, technically, the Swiss team played the first half facing the sun. A real summer sun, hot, powerful. Annoying for Yann Sommer? Not really, since the Swiss goalkeeper had nothing to do. However, it could have been for Remo Freuler, when he had to follow with his eyes this ball that he was about to propel with a huge volley into the net of Gianluigi Donnarumma. As luck would have it, at the same moment, a cloud passed by and slipped in front of the big yellow ball in the sky. Well played on his part.

Murat Yakin who explains that “there are tablets for headaches”, when a journalist suggests to him that many players will be able to claim a place in the starting eleven in the quarter-final. Ruben Vargas who instinctively dedicates his goal to his captain: “At the break, Granit said to me: please, score a goal.” Then again Murat Yakin who assures that his players are free to celebrate the victory against Italy as they wish, before changing his mind in a nice balancing act: “I’m not sure that they will necessarily want to go out , they are professionals. We think football, we breathe football, it brings us joy. For everything else, we don’t have time.” This is not always the case, but it was worth listening at the press conference after the Swiss qualification.

In this register, the most comical thing to observe was perhaps the appearance of Luciano Spalletti in front of the press. First question: “Are you still the right person to lead the Italian team?” Duration of the coach’s response, without interruption: four minutes. How to protect yourself against other offensive questions? Not really. A German-speaking colleague even tried to launch him into a metaphor between a Switzerland in a Ferrari and an Italy in a Fiat Panda. “What is your name and who do you work for?” Spalletti reacted. With smile. Finally, what looked like a smile.

The Euro ticket sales system is such that the majority of tickets are offered “blind”, before the tournament. That is to say before knowing the posters of the knockout matches. On Saturday, the Olympic Stadium was thus a little red, a little blue, but above all very colorless. The majority of the public was logically made up of Germans, some of whom could be observed with more or less apparent distinctive signs of support for the Swiss team. Face paint, scarves, flags… The Swiss Germans were one with the German Swiss.

Apparently, the deposit on cups in Germany follows the same price curve as match tickets. In Cologne and Frankfurt during the group stage, you had to pay 3 euros on top of the price of your drink. On the square in the capital where Swiss fans were able to gather before the round of 16, you had to pay 5 euros. More than an ecological measure, you could almost see it as a find to balance wealth.

An impressive quantity of cups were taken in the Swiss procession, then abandoned on the way. Where “Pfandsammler”, the term used in Germany to designate people who make collecting bottles one of their jobs, were easily able to recover them. A pet bottle can be returned to the store for 25 cents. Finding ten cups was therefore equivalent to gathering 200 pet bottles. Profitable. And more convenient to carry.

On this subject. When a procession of supporters of a club passes through a city, the shops located on the route are generally forced to close their doors until calm returns. As a security measure. At the Euro, at least as far as the Swiss procession is concerned, it is the opposite: the stores that see the red tide pass by multiply their turnover. This is because it is a question of satisfying fans looking for supplies for the road.

Still thinking of this smoothie seller. The man had to try four times to explain to this group of French-speaking people that, no, he did not sell beers. Not sure he managed to get them to buy an apple-spinach-broccoli-chia seed mixture instead.