Italy’s defence of their title ended in underwhelming fashion as they deservedly lost to Switzerland, going down 2-0 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The Swiss also ended a run of 11 matches without a win against Italy dating back to 1993.
Ruben Vargas teed up Remo Freuler for Switzerland’s 37th-minute opener before curling home superbly himself right at the start of the second half to deservedly double their lead.
Murat Yakin’s supremely well-drilled side, who held Germany to a draw in the group stage, outplayed the flat two-time champions and will face England or Slovakia in the next round, next Saturday in Duesseldorf.
“There are only good sides at the Euros, we went unbeaten in the group stage and played well, and the Germany game showed we can go toe-to-toe with teams like that,” Yakin told reporters.
“We sent out an important signal tonight with the game we played.
“We did not only club together and defend as a unit and sit back, we showed we could attack and dominate proceedings.”
A new-look Italy, short on star power and without many of the key figures that led them to Euro 2020 glory, offered little in response to Switzerland’s energetic display.
“It hurts, it really hurts,” said Italy’s captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
“We can only say sorry to everyone, we were disappointing today and they deserved to win. We struggled all game long.”
The last-16 action continues on Sunday as England take on Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen before Spain face Georgia in Cologne.
