Switzerland turns Italy into former EURO champion

Goal
Switzerland:Freuler (37'), Vargas (46')

Against Switzerland, Italy took to the field in a 4-3-3 formation. Notably, striker Stephan El Shaarawy, after three games on the bench in the group stage, was surprisingly assigned to start on the left wing by coach Luciano Spalletti. In the center, the striker role was given to Gianluca Scamacca instead of Mateo Retegui.

Federico Chiesa also started on the right wing, while in midfield, Bryan Cristante partnered Nicolo Fagioli and Nicolo Barella. In defence, Gianluca Mancini was chosen to play centre-back in place of the suspended Riccardo Calafiori. Mancini's partner was Alessandro Bastoni.

After the opening whistle, Switzerland gradually overwhelmed Italy, forcing the blue team to retreat deep to defend on their home field. Italy was just a name when they let Switzerland continuously press the field with extremely coherent attacks.

In the 24th minute, Breel Embolo broke the offside trap but his one-on-one shot was not enough to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma. Once again, the PSG goalkeeper became Italy's savior.

In the period that followed, Italy could barely advance or, in other words, they had no ball to play with. Switzerland completely controlled the midfield and their pressing style of play caused Italy to constantly make bad passes. Spalletti's team rarely got the ball past half the pitch as their passes were easily intercepted by the Swiss.

And then what had to happen finally happened. In the 37th minute, receiving a pass from Ruben Vargas on the left wing, Freuler entered the penalty area, controlled the ball for a moment and then finished with his left foot into the near corner of the Italian net to open the score. This time, there was no Donnarumma to save Italy.

Less than 30 seconds into the second half, Italy had to pick the ball out of the net for the second time. Receiving a pass from Michel Aebischer, Vargas, unmarked in the penalty area, comfortably curled his right foot into the top corner to defeat Donnarumma.

Italy struggled to come back from behind but failed to get the ball. The Azzurri lacked ideas, played disjointedly and relied heavily on crosses from the flanks, but to no avail. All Italy could muster was a near-own goal from Fabian Schar in the 52nd minute and a close-range shot from Scamacca that hit the Swiss post in the 74th minute.

In the end, Italy lost 0-2 to Switzerland and became the former EURO champion. It was an inexcusable defeat for the Azzurri because they played so poorly, both in defense and attack. To be fair, if it weren't for Donnarumma's brilliance, Italy would have been eliminated early in the group stage. Reaching the round of 16 was indeed a true reflection, even a bit too much compared to Italy's real ability.

As for Switzerland, they have won the first ticket to the quarter-finals of EURO 2024. Switzerland's opponent will be the winner of the match between England and Slovakia.

Line-up
Italy:Donnarumma, Darmian (Cambiaso 75'), Mancini, Bastoni, Di Lorenzo, Barella (Retegui 64'), Fagioli (Frattesi 86'), Cristante (Pellegrini 75'), El Shaarawy (Zaccagni 46'), Chiesa, Scamacca.
Switzerland:Sommer, Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez, Rieder (Stergiou 72'), Xhaka, Freuler, Aebischer (Steffen 90'+2), Ndoye (Sierro 77'), Vargas (Zuber 71'), Embolo (Duah 77').