Euro 2024 Round 16: Switzerland v Italy preview

Venue: Olympiastadion in Berlin
Time: 4 pm
Referee: Marciniak Sczymon (Poland)

There is no place to hide at this stage. The 2024 European Championship in Germany returns with a big bang on Saturday with the splendid Swiss playing against the underwhelming Italy.

Switzerland in Group A did pretty well with Remo Freuler and Granit Xhaka forming arguably the best double pivot in the tournament. The duo has shown so much versatility making Switzerland a hard nut to crack.

In their final game against Germany in the group, Yakin’s side was very solid in all departments and with a similar performance on Saturday, Italy will need to work hard.

With the right wing-back Widmer set to miss due to Yellow Cards accumulation, Stuttgart’s Leonidas Stergiou is likely to replace him. Fully fit Breel Embolo will lead the attack with Aebescher and Dan Ndoye playing right behind him.

The Azzuri will miss Bologna’s star turn center-back Ricardo Calafiori who dazzled against Croatia. He misses due to Yellow card accumulation. Bastoni and Gatti are likely to form the centre-back pairing.

Donnarumm is continuing his incredible form for Italy and he has shown great leadership between the sticks just like he did in Euro 2020.

Spalletti’s Azzurri has been below par and got to this level because of Zaccagni’s incredible strike against Croatia. The Lazio forward is expected to start alongside Retegui and Chiesa upfront for Italy.

Switzerland is slightly ahead of Italy due to the performances they have put up in the competition so far. A hell of a fixture is expected in Berlin on Saturday afternoon with a quarter-final berth at stake.