Unwatchable and non-existent, Italy is out of the European Championships. Switzerland through to the quarter-finals (2-0)

Auf Wiedersehen reigning champions. The farewell arrives at the Olympiastadion, where a completely different Italy climbed to the roof of the world, colouring the sky of Berlin blue. This time, however, the stadium of the German capital is the theatre of the farewell to one of the ugliest national teams of recent times, even more than the one that against the Swiss did not go beyond two draws that blocked the way to Qatar2022. Switzerland deservedly won 2-0 without ever fearing that you won’t be able to do it, really because Italy never gives the impression of being there. Who knows, too many changes probably won’t help, the (Swiss) team identity evidently pays off. Yes, because Spalletti changes again: 4-2-3-1 in the first two matches, 3-5-2 in the third, 4-3-3 in the round of 16. Mancini makes his debut alongside Bastoni and takes Calafiori’s place, while Darmian and not Dimarco cover the left. There is another debut from the first minute and it is that of El Shaarawy, an attacking left winger, but who when needed covers the entire flank when the ‘fluid’ game so loved by the coach reshapes Italy into a 3- 5-2. On the other side there is Chiesa who, unlike Pharaoh, only deals with the offensive phase to support Scamacca.

Two new additions also in midfield with Cristante and Fagioli in the starting 11 and to create a new midfield triangle with Barella. Jorginho, Frattesi and Pellegrini out. On the other side Yakin chooses the 3-4-2-1 and focuses on the ‘Italians’ Sommer, Rodriguez, Aebischer, Freuler and Ndoye. The Turk guesses, Luciano da Certaldo doesn’t. He says it during the match and he says it right from the start. Switzerland dominates the court and the dribble, Spalletti on the eve of the match was asking for an Italy that was free and had personality, but found it soft and timid, so much so that it transformed the Swiss into “red furies”. The holes in the defense begin to appear immediately, on the centre-right there are chasms: Di Lorenzo and Mancini are at the mercy of their opponents, Xhaka and Freuler understand this and persist there.

Cristante is also there, but if it was supposed to give solidity the plan has failed. Fagioli tries to reason, he is the only one who does it, but without inventing who knows what. Nati’s dominance is not demonstrated by the occasions: few and here is the difference with Spain who instead always went to the goal. At the 24th however, Mancini disappears and Donnarumma is miraculous on Embolo. The Azzurri response is in a serpentine by Chiesa, but Sommer can continue to doze. The Azzurri captain, however, capitulates at the 37th: another hole, Bastoni out of position, Fagioli does not close on Freuler scored the well-deserved 1-0 with his left foot. And if we go into the break down by just one goal it’s because the post helps Donnarumma on Rieder’s free kick.

First half to forget, there is still the second half, on paper we can hope. Spalletti brings on Zaccagni for El Shaarawy, but after 30 seconds the doubling arrives with a nice curling right-footer by Vargas: 2-0, fair enough. There is an own post by Schar on a cross by Fagioli with Sommer wrong-footed and immobile. It could be the fuse…not even to talk about it, no fire is litRetegui comes in for Barella for a desperate 4-2-4 that produces a shot (the first for the Azzurri) from the Italian-Argentine in the 28th minute and, a minute later, Scamacca hits the post 4-5 metres from the goal and in a suspicious offside position on Zaccagni’s assist. It ends 2-0, Switzerland deservedly in the quarter-finals, European champions deservedly and badly at home.

Spalletti: “We lacked rhythm, we can’t do more for now”

“The goal at the beginning of the second half cut our legs a bit”: admitted the Italian coach, Luciano Spalletti, commenting on the defeat against Switzerland to Rai microphones. “We lacked rhythm, freshness, which always make the difference”, he observed, “tonight I changed some players but at the moment we are not capable of doing more than that”.

“In the individuals there was a different pace”, Spalletti acknowledged. As for the qualifications for the 2026 World Cup, the coach observed: “The road is very long, it is a discussion that will be done slowly. We need more rhythm, more continuity, more sacrifice. We did not arrive at the European Championship in exceptional condition”.

Donnarumma: “We apologize, today we disappointed”

“Going out like this hurts, really hurts. We apologize to everyone. Today we disappointed, they deserved it. Everything was missing: courage, quality.” These are the first words of the national team captain Gigi Donnarumma, to Rai microphones, after the elimination in the round of 16 of the European Championship against Switzerland.