Euro 2024: Switzerland stun Italy to reach quarter-finals

Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas scored two goals for Switzerland to knock champions Italy out of the Euro 2024 in the round of 16 on Saturday.

Switzerland dumped taly out of Euro 2024 with a stunning 2-0 victory to reach the quarter-finals for the second time in their history.

Murat Yakin’s supremely well-drilled side outplayed the flat two-time winners in the last 16 clash in Berlin and will face England or Slovakia in the next round.

Vargas teed up 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.

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.

Former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, arriving at the Euros after a stunning season with German champions Bayer Leverkusen, pulled the strings as the Swiss rarely looked like letting the lead slip away.

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Italy coach Luciano Spalletti dropped Jorginho after his worrying group stage performances, bringing in Nicolo Fagioli in defensive midfield among a hefty six changes which failed to bring the Azzurri to life.

The 23-year-old started a major tournament match for the first time, having missed most of the season with Juventus after a seven-month ban for gambling on football matches.

Italy scraped through the first phase thanks to Mattia Zaccagni’s last-gasp strike in the 1-1 draw with Croatia and Spalletti said his team had no alternative but to improve in the knock-out rounds.

However it was Switzerland who grew in confidence and pulled off their best display yet, making a bright start at the Olympiastadion in a sweltering Berlin, where a far more impressive Italy won the 2006 World Cup.

Former goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, now Italy’s delegation head, has been regaling the squad with stories from that triumph but it did not inspire a convincing performance – apart from by his modern day counterpart, Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) goalkeeper, key in Italy’s Euro 2020 conquest, made a fine save to thwart Breel Embolo midway through the first half as Switzerland created the first real chance by playing him through.

The Star