The knockout stages begin this weekend as 16 teams will fight it out to win the European Championship, also known as the Henri Delaunay Trophy. With the tournament that started with a total of 24 teams and now the remaining 16 countries will go head to head, each forging their path in order to become Kings of Europe.
Switzerland plays Italy at the Olympiastadion in Berlin as both teams hope to reach the quarter finals. In the previous European championships in 2020, Switzerland reached the Round of 16 and triumphed over France, whilst Italy breezed through the knockout stages, ultimately reaching the final in Wembley where they met England and won on penalties after a 1-1 draw result. The Azzurri became two-time European Champions.
Swiss defender Silvan Widmer is out of the game as he is suspended after picking up his second yellow card in the Euros.
Stuggart’s Leonidas Stergiou may come in and play at wing-back.
As for Italy, one of their most impactful players, Riccardo Calafiori will be out because of suspension.
AS Roma’s Gianluca Mancini will likely take his place in the Italian defence, while Gianluca Scammaca is also expected to return to the team.
Switzerland, runners-up in Group A behind hosts Germany, finished unbeaten in their group scoring five goals in total, including a 3-1 win over Hungary in their opening match.
Swiss midfielder Michel Aebischer scored and assisted against the Hungarians, with more goals from Kwado Duah and Breel Embolo wrapped up the three points.
In matchday two, Switzerland denied Scotland a big win at the Euros after coming from a goal down to draw 1-1, with a beautiful first-time strike from Xherdan Shaqiri.
Final game of Group A for the Swiss (ranked 19th in FIFA World Rankings) was against hosts and favourites Germany (16th place) and they took the game to the Germans.
Dan Ndoye gave them an early 1-0 lead in the first half and were moments away from finishing as group winners ahead of Germany but Niclas Fulkrug snatched a 92nd-minute goal to deny Switzerland the win.
In Group B, Italy finished in second place behind winners Spain and it was anything but easy for the defending European champions.
The Azzurri opened their campaign with a 2-1 over Albania, despite being a goal down in 23 seconds. However a powerful header from Italy’s Alessandro Bastoni following a Lorenzo Pellegrini cross equalised for 1-1 after 11 minutes.
Nico Barella’s first time volley was enough for Italy to collect all three points, all within the first 16 minutes of the game.
Italy, two-times European Championship winners, had 17 shots against Albania but failed to add any more goals to the game.
Matchday two saw Italy face three-time European winners Spain in a heavyweight match up in Group B.
Italy’s Calafiori own goal, following a low from Spain’s Nico Williams, was enough for La Rojas to win 1-0 as they went top of the group, and eventually win all three games.
The Azzurri entered their final matchday knowing that a win or draw against Croatia would be enough to seal qualification for the knockout stages.
However, Luka Modric put Croatia ahead after 55th minutes despite having his penalty saved just moments before by Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Croatia looked certain to progress whilst the Azzurri were heading out at the group stage as defending champions but Italy’s Mattia Zaccagni scored a 98th minute goal, to dash all Croatia hopes and secure qualification for the Round of 16.
Switzerland are winless in their last 11 matches against Italy – their last win was 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier in 1993 – with a record of six draws and five losses.
Italy are unbeaten in their last three meetings against the Swiss. The Azzurri beat Switzerland 3-0 during the group stages of the 2020 European Championship.
This will be the fifth meeting between the two sides at a major international competition. The Swiss beat Italy in the 1954 World Cup (2-1 in the group stage and 4-1 in the group play-offs) but Italy beat Switzerland 3-0 in group stages of the 1962 World Cup.
Switzerland
Sommer; Rodriguez, Akanji, Schar; Aebischer, Freuler, Xhaka, Stergiou; Vargas; Ndoye, Embolo
Manager: Murat Yakin
Italy
Donnarumma; F. Dimarco, G.Mancini, A. Bastoni, Di Lorenzo; Barella, Jorginho, Frattesi; L.Pellegrini, Scamacca, Chiesa
Manager: Luciano Spalletti
Switzerland – Remo Freuler
Bologna midfielder Remo Freuler has been ever present for the Switzerland team during this year’s European Championships. Freuler played in every single group game for the Swiss as they finished second in Group A. He has two assists in three group games, including his assist for teammate Ndoye’s goal against Germany.
The 32-year old has played 251 minutes so far during the Euros, and he will be expected to partner Granit Xhaka in midfield against the likes of Italy’s Barella and Jorginho and supply the Swiss attack with goal scoring opportunities.
With a midfielder like Freuler, the Swiss will fancy their chances to maybe break their winless record against the Italians and possibly cause an upset by reaching the quarter finals for the Euros.
Italy – Gianluigi Donnarumma
Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in his position, has been an enforcer in goal for the Azzurri. Donnarumma has played all 270 minutes across the group stages so far for Italy and will be an important figure as his team defend the trophy they won three years ago.
Amongst the clean sheet rankings for goalkeepers, Donnarumma has conceded just three goals so far in this year’s tournament, only Spain’s Unai Simon has conceded fewer having not let in a single goal so far at the Euros.
Part of the Italy side that beat England in the 2020 European Championship final, the 25-year old goalkeeper will once again hope to be in the final come July 14 in Berlin.
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Where/How to watch the match
The Round of 16 matchup between Switzerland and Italy takes place on Saturday 29 June 2024 at 5pm BST (British Summer Time) and TV coverage will be shown on BBC One and iPlayer in the United Kingdom. As for the United States, TV coverage of the game will start at 11 EST (Eastern Standard Time) on all relevant channels.