This could be another big night for the Swiss team. Just like the crazy night in Bucharest on June 28, 2021, Switzerland has a date with history this Saturday in Berlin (from 5:30 p.m. on RTS 2) 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 them in this Euro after Mattia Zaccagni’s equaliser at the end of added time 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 home.
A “second” life
Today, the defending champions are probably 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 did 12 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 that it is on this lawn that the Nazionale won, eighteen years ago, its fourth world crown.
Murat Yakin faces his destiny
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 may not be ready to die on Saturday already.
Inspired like never before since the start of the tournament with the starts of Michel Aebischer and Kwadwo Duah against Hungary, of Xherdan Shaqiri against Scotland and of Fabian Rieder against Germany, Murat Yakin will lead his 38th match at the head of the Swiss team. In the event of elimination on Saturday, there is a strong risk that this Switzerland – Italy will be the last. His contract only runs until the end of the tournament and he rejected an extension offer in the spring to the great surprise of his managers.
A victory, on the other hand, will erase the humiliation of the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup 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 give himself a pre-match half-lap of honor to the great joy of the Swiss fans. When we talk about communion, Murat Yakin is the first to give the host.
ats/nm
