Kolkata: At the venue of their biggest triumph this century, Italy returned for the first time since July 9, 2006 and were Swiss-knifed. Like in every edition barring 2012, the European Championship will have new winners. Switzerland last beat Italy in 1993 but that piece of statistic beggared belief, so good were they in Berlin on Saturday. In a minute into the second half, Ruben Vargas, the pocket rocket on the left of Switzerland, scored. It was a delicious bender that gave nothing to the goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, but epitomizing the disarray in the blue ranks was the fact that the move began with Italy losing possession at kick-off. The 2-0 win took the Swiss into the quarterfinals, where they meet the winners of England-Slovakia.
But for Donnarumma, this first match in the round of 16 would have been over as a contest at half-time. The big goalkeeper, hero of Italy’s triumph last time around, kept out Breel Embolo’s shot, the Switzerland striker possibly guilty of having given away which way he would go, and Fabian Rieder’s free-kick which almost serpented in at the near post.
But in between, Donnarumma could do little when Vargas found Remo Freuler who had ghosted into the box. He controlled with his right and volleyed low with his left, leaving Donnarumma and Italy spread-eagled. This wasn’t a contest; it was concert against chaos.
From trying to find Embolo with long ball to moving it around with the precision of clockwork, Switzerland bossed from the off. They shot from distance and Dan Ndoye even tried a scissors-kick where he made no contact with the ball. Even before the goals, the chasm between the teams was evident in the way the ball was stolen from Nicolo Barella in the 34th minute and Alessandro Bastoni before that. Manuel Akanji dispossessed Gianluca Scamacca with such ease that it felt like a kickabout between men and boys.
Scamacca hit the upright but may have been off-side. The closest Italy came to testing Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer was from a Fabian Schar back-header that would have been the tournament’s eighth own-goal.
There’s history between the neighbours, who share a 740km border. There was June’s 3-0 win for Italy in Euro 2020 but two draws against Switzerland – Jorginho missing penalties in both – hugely contributed to Italy not making their second successive World Cup finals. Sommer saved one; Jorginho blasted the other over.
There is camaraderie, too, since Sommer has five colleagues from Inter Milan among the Azzurri in Germany. “We’ve stopped contacting one another because both sides are focusing on the task at hand,” said Sommer before the game.
So much for that. Team delegation head in 2021 Gianluca Vialli died of cancer in January 2023 and in August his friend and Italy coach Roberto Mancini moved to Saudi Arabia. Most of those who had beaten England in the final in Wembley were missing from Mancini’s successor Luciano Spalletti. In football, new incentives and new blood are necessary, said the 65-year-old who won league titles in Russia, two cup titles with Roma and ended Napoli’s after-Maradona drought.
Switzerland had qualified poorly, finishing second in the group behind Romania, and with days before the draw, knew coach Murat Yakin was staying on. They have, though, looked slick in the finals, drawing against Scotland and Germany after beginning the campaign with a 3-1 win over Hungary. Skipper Granit Xhaka played an important role in first-time Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen losing once in the 2023–24 season. One expected more from a rejuvenated Xherdan Shaqiri, a surprise call-up in Kwado Duah that worked, Embolo having been among the goals, and Ndoye having shown pace and poaching skills.
Italy’s campaign has been iffy—mollycoddling the description. Twenty-three seconds against Albania, they were trailing. They recovered to win 2-1 but in a contest between two teams in transition, Spain showed the defending champions that they had reset better. Then, Italy needed a last-minute shot against Croatia to stay alive; wonderful as the strike was, Mattia Zaccagni’s goal came against the run of play. The fact that Riccardio Calafiori, whose confident surge up the pitch led to the goal, was suspended meant defender Gianluca Mancini had big shoes to fill. It was one of the six changes Spalletti had made. He could have made as many at any point of time in the match and it wouldn’t have mattered. Spalletti introduced Zaccagni at half-time and a goal happened at the other end.