The defending champions finish in the eighth round! Italy paid the price for a changed line-up. The black horse from Switzerland will fight for the top four

The winners of the last Euro end their journey through this year’s in the eighth round. Italy lost 2:0 to Switzerland after goals by Freuler and Vargas and the country from the heart of the Alps will fight for the top four next weekend. Coach Spalletti has changed the line-up a lot and it hasn’t paid off.

The defending champions against one of the black horses of the championship. The first eight-final clash of the 17th European Football Championship offered a really interesting encounter on Saturday evening. The match at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin was refereed by Marciniak from Poland.

Both teams were missing one player due to yellow cards. For the Italians it was stopper Calafiori, for the Swiss side it was Silvan Widmer. Italian coach Spalletti was not afraid to field a rather modified line-up for the crucial match. El Shaarawy and Mancini played the first minutes of the championship.

Midfielder Fagioli, for a change, came on for just 10 minutes against Croatia (1:1) in the group stages. A total of six changes in the line-up were noticeable in Italy’s performance. Switzerland’s superiority was not yet capitalised on thanks to Donnarumma Embolo. But in the 37th minute it was already 1: 0.

Sommer was saved twice by the bar

Remo Freuler received a beautiful pass into the penalty area from Vargas and although he didn’t quite get the first touch, he had enough time to put Donnarumma through. Rieder could have increased Switzerland’s lead before the end of the first half, but the PSG goalkeeper pulled his penalty kick onto the bar.

Zaccagni replaced the lacklustre El Shaarawy for the second half. But the Lazio striker hadn’t even got to the ball yet and was already watching a completely undefended Vargas curl the ball beautifully into the right-hand post. The Alpine side were 2-0 up and Italy’s chances of defending had dropped considerably.

Moments later, Fabian Schär could have reduced the deficit with an own goal, but the thirty-two-year-old stopper’s unfortunate attempt was stopped by the bar of Sommer’s goal. Gianluca Scamacca also hit the post, this time the right goal. But Italy were not favoured.

The dark horse of the tournament thus knocked out another great. At the last Euro it was France, this year it was Italy. In Düsseldorf next Saturday, the Swiss will face the better of England or Slovakia in the semi-finals.

Source: CT Sport, UEFA.com