Italy has lost. Luciano Spalletti has lost. A team that perhaps does not have great champions but could and should have done more than this is returning home. Much, much more than this. Three years after winning the title, the National team says goodbye to the European Championship in the round of 16: it goes out deservedly because today in Berlin there was only one team on the field and it was Murat Yakin’s Switzerland. Far from trying to emulate the 2006 champions. Far from being a carefree team after having overcome the group. Tonight, Italy never gave the impression of being in the game and it is no coincidence that they created the first scoring opportunity with… Schar, a defender who in the 51st minute almost scored an own goal as clumsy as it was sensational by hitting the post. Before this episode, however, the Swiss were already ahead by two goals: in the 37th minute, Freuler from Bologna broke the deadlock, in the 46th minute a curling shot by Vargas sealed it. A one-two launched between the end of the first half and the start of the second half which knocked out an already stunned Italy from the first moments of the match.
The two teams took to the field with different formations. On the one hand, Switzerland with a very unscrupulous 3-4-3, with full midfielders good at entering the pitch and wingers ready for one-on-one play. On the other hand, the return to the four-man defense for Spalletti’s Italy with El Shaarawy and Chiesa supporting Scamacca and Fagioli in the control room. The first half saw only one team on the pitch, it was a first half perennially dominated by Yakin’s team who were good at entering the Azzurri’s area often thanks to their fast phrasing. The first big chance came in the 24th minute: on a through ball from Aebischer, Embolo did well to sprint without ending up offside and to present himself all alone in front of Donnarumma: the Italian goalkeeper was perfect, in the right place at the right time and attentive in parrying a curling shot that wasn’t angled. Thirteen minutes later the Swiss lead goal arrived: this time it was Vargas who found Remo Freuler in the area, who was good at kicking with the right timing and unlocking the match.
Even after taking the lead, Switzerland continued to attack. Before the final whistle he came close to doubling the lead directly from a free kick with Donnarumma intercepting a free kick from Rieder with the help of the post, a few seconds after the resumption of the match he found the 2-0: the Italian defense was literally asleep while Switzerland he phrased on the left, Vargas’ curling shot was perfect which Donnarumma only managed to graze.
After the second goal, Switzerland deliberately slowed down the pace, but continued to control the ball. He risked reopening it with Schar’s deflection hitting the post, he continued to attack so as not to lose control of a match that Italy observed as non-paying spectators.
Only from the 46th minute Luciano Spalletti inserted Mattia Zaccagni, the most confident man who allowed us to qualify for the eighth finals. Only when the game had nothing more to say did he insert another striker. With Retegui and Scamacca we saw something more: a clear opportunity, but nothing even comparable to a possible comeback. Tonight, Switzerland beat us again after 31 years. It was a clear, resounding victory. A real lesson in football that cannot fail to open up some reflections in the Azzurri house: Spalletti, what are you doing now?