Euro 2024 preview: No fear for Swiss ahead of Italy tie

admin admin | 06-29 16:15

Familiar opponents Italy and Switzerland meet in the Euro 2024 last 16 in Berlin on Saturday, and while familiarity hasn't bred contempt, there is also no fear from the Swiss in facing a country many of their players call home.

Italians and Swiss have long had close ties, sharing a border and Italian is one of the official languages of Switzerland, but that will all be forgotten in Berlin.

Italy and Switzerland have met 61 times, the most common opponent for each country and while the Swiss have beaten the Italians only eight times, most recently in 1993, they have impressed more in Germany.

Switzerland came close to topping Group A before conceding an added-time equaliser in the final game against hosts Germany, and it was a performance which showed they have no fear of anyone at this tournament.

Italy needed a late goal to snatch a 1-1 draw with Croatia to progress, and the defending champions have failed to impress, unlike Euro 2020 when they eased through the group stage and beat the Swiss comfortably.

After seeing off Turkey 3-0 in their opening game three years ago, Italy beat Switzerland by the same score.

Bologna were a team who took Serie A by storm last season, finishing fifth in the standings to secure Champions League football and there could be as many as three Bologna players on the pitch in Berlin, all on the Swiss side.

Classy centre-half Riccardo Calafiori is suspended for Italy

Unfortunately for Italy, Luciano Spalletti will not have Riccardo Calafiori available, with the Bologna defender suspended. Calafiori made the opposite move to many Swiss players when joining Basel before returning to Italy.

Midfielder Michel Aebischer scored in Switzerland's 3-1 opening win over Hungary, forward Dan Ndoye put them in front against Germany, and Remo Freuler completes the Swiss Bologna trio.

"I'm sorry for Riccardo, really. I would have liked to have faced him at the Olympiastadion," Freuler said.

"On Saturday, however, the challenge will be Switzerland against Italy. Not Bologna against Italy."

Freuler was on loan at Bologna from Nottingham Forest last season, but before that he spent six years at Atalanta, and this will be no ordinary game for the 32-year-old.

"Of course, it's not a match like any other for me. In Italy I built my career, also finding an ideal country to spend my life with my family," he said.

"On Saturday, however, there won't be all this love. It's a round of 16 and there will be no room for feelings."

Freuler knows the next part of the tournament is where the Swiss will really be judged.

"Doing well in the first part of the tournament is important. The matches that make the difference, those capable of changing the dimension of a national team, however, are others," Freuler said.

"But I'm not afraid. And Switzerland are not afraid of Italy."

With his startling pace and ability to ride out tackles, unheralded Swiss newcomer Dan Ndoye has put himself on a few radars at Euro 2024 and could be key to another Swiss march to the quarter-finals.

Ndoye was among the surprises of Euro 2024 having started only one competitive match for his country prior to the tournament, but the versatile forward has seized the moment and looks certain to start against Italy.

The Bologna player has been a dynamo in a Swiss attack that looked dangerous against Hungary, Scotland and Germany, with Ndoye tantalising defences with quick feet and surging forays down both flanks.

Swiss coach Murat Yakin had kept him mostly on the margins during qualifying, but his roll of the dice at the Euros paid off, with Ndoye a standout player in Switzerland's 1-1 draw with Germany last week, scoring first to spoil the hosts' perfect record in Group A.

Dan Ndoye celebrates his goal against Germany

For a 23-year-old who started only once in qualifying and made substitute appearances of an average 21 minutes a game, Ndoye has exuded confidence, accounting for nearly a third of Switzerland's goal attempts.

Three days before netting what was his first for Switzerland against Germany, Ndoye had already suggested it was on the cards.

"It will come, I'm not worried about that," he told broadcaster SRF.

"I'm already doing a lot of things right."

The numbers confirm that and show Ndoye is a player Italy should be wary of.

With a top speed of 35.6 kph (22.1 mph) he is the third-fastest player at Euro 2024, quicker than France's Kylian Mbappe, and joins France's Ousmane Dembele and Belgium's Jeremy Doku in the top five players with the most dribbles.

He is seventh for goal attempts, level with Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne and three short of Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.

It has not gone unnoticed, with news reports this week that Ndoye is now a target of Inter Milan and Manchester United.

A Senegalese-Swiss who played for Nice and Basel before moving to Italy's Bologna, Ndoye was a regular for Switzerland's under-21s and once expressed interest in switching to Senegal.

Switzerland will be glad that never happened, as they pursue another spot in the last eight, a stage they reached in Euro 2020 after eliminating France.

"We have shown we can hold our own against the top teams. That gives us a lot of courage," said Ndoye.

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