Switzerland qualified for the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 by eliminating defending champion Italy 2-0 in the first round of 16 on Saturday in Berlin.
Switzerland easily dominated an Italian title holder lacking inspiration and talent (2-0), Saturday in Berlin in the round of 16 of Euro-2024, and ideally prepared for a possible duel against England.
This is a new level that the “Nati” has just reached, three decades after its last victory against Italy, three years after eliminating the France team at the same stage of Euro-2021. But then, the Swiss had to go through a penalty shootout, after taking advantage of a gap on the Blues side.
This time, while some will not fail to point out the weakness of this Italy, Murat Yakin’s men gave a football lesson and sent a message to Europe and its favourites – Spain, Germany, England, France.
Switzerland is clearly rebalancing the old rivalry with Italy. It had already played a bad trick on the “Nazionale” by sending it to the play-offs for the 2022 World Cup – which will be fatal for it.
A sign that something has changed is that Switzerland took control of the game from the start. Italy struggled to get the ball out, with their technical assets mainly limited to Nicolo Barella and Federico Chiesa.
Stifled by the technical and tactical control of the Reds, the “Azzurri” were able to take a breath after a quarter of an hour, with a first foray into the Swiss area – meager and harmless results. Five minutes later, a long ball from Stephan El-Shaarawi, who gave away a free kick subtly struck by Barella, narrowly missing the assist to Di Lorenzo, were among the only thrills felt by the Italian fans.
Sovereign in midfield, the Swiss first sinned in the final third. Finally alone after going on the edge of offside on a swaying pass from Michel Aebischer, Breel Embolo lost his duel against Gianluigui Donnarumma (23).
Bad dream
The Swiss had to wait another quarter of an hour to validate their domination with Remo Freuler’s opening goal. The Bologna player had criticized the Italians before the match for their absence from the 2022 World Cup and he did not give up on the pitch, starting a sprint towards the surface to stand out and offer an obvious passing solution to Ruben Vargas. Before taking the ball and beating Donnarumma at the near post (37).
Switzerland displayed its superiority during this sequence of possession lasting almost a minute and thirty seconds, punctuated by 33 passes. Just before the break, Donnarumma also had to be vigilant to push back to his post an eccentric and distant free kick taken hard by Fabian Rieder (45+1).
On the Italian bench, Gianluigi Buffon shook his head, no doubt hoping to chase away this bad dream and rediscover that of the 2006 World Cup final, won against France in the same Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
After the break, the Swiss stunned them from the start with Vargas. Served by Michel Aebischer inside the area, not stuck enough by the Italian defense, he was able to calmly adjust Donnarumma and strike into the opposite top corner (46).
Italy can be blamed for one play in particular. At the start of the last quarter of an hour, Cristante made a superb lobbed pass and Mattia Zaccagni had the very good idea, with his back to goal, to deflect it to Gianluigi Scamacca… who hit the post. Winner of the Europa League with Atalanta Bergamo, he was definitely not confident with the national team.
Curtain! The second half above all showed the Swiss serene, who did not panic to bring out the balls and had the technical level to do so. The Bologna virat trium Aebischer-Freuler-Ndoye was in full swing, regulated by captain Granit Xhaka.
“We lacked intensity,” Italian coach Luciano Spalletti stressed, saying he would bring “more physical quality” to the next competition – since he said he hoped to continue in his position.
The final whistle sounded, the Swiss fans exploded with joy and the Italian radio commentators shouted.
