Italy were knocked out of the European Championship in the round of 16 after a 2-0 defeat to Switzerland on Saturday evening.
EURO 2024
Result: Switzerland 2-0 Italy
Date: 29 June 2024
Venue: Olympiastadion Berlin
Italy brought back most of their regulars, as Stephan El Shaarawy, Federico Chiesa, Nicolo Barella and Gianluca Scamacca led the attack.
The game was tense in the opening exchanges, with the Azzurri not allowed space and time on the ball to dictate matters.
Switzerland showed more bite going forward was on 24 minutes Breel Embolo had a big chance after beating the offside trap and went through on goal but his curler was thwarted by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in a one-on-one.
It came as no surprise eight minutes before the break after Remo Freuler broke the deadlock for Murat Yakin's charges with a low volley in the box after his run was not picked up in the box.
The Azzurri could still not create chances and nearly went to the break 2-0 down after Fabian Rieder's free-kick threatened to sneak in at the near post but was eventually forced out by Donnarumma.
Switzerland caught Luciano Spalletti's charges cold just a minute from the break after Ruben Vargas doubled their lead with a sensational strike from the edge of the box.
Italy struggled to make headway after that and with 15 minutes to go, Spalletti made a double change to affect the game going forward as Lorenzo Pellegrini and Andrea Cambiaso replaced both Bryan Cristante and Matteo Darmian.
However, the Swiss were getting better chances on transitions as Steven Zuber, with seven minutes left, almost made it 3-0 after going through on goal but his diagonal shot missed the far post narrowly wide.
The writing was on the wall for the Azzurri in the dying minutes, as Yakin's troops held on to a convincing victory and reached the quarter-finals.
The Swiss will meet the winner between England and Slovakia in the last eight.
