The knockout stage of Euro 2024 gets underway on Saturday afternoon where we head to the capital Berlin for the opening round of 16 match as Switzerland take on the defending champions Italy for a place in the quarter finals.
Both these teams came second in their group in the first stage but have landed in the right half of the draw and will be looking for a deep run in the competition from here. This one is nicely poised between two evenly matched sides.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC1 channel in the UK with the build-up beginning at 4.30pm ahead of the 5pm kick off.
Switzerland
When the dark horses were being assessed ahead of this tournament it was Switzerland who received my vote and we saw why in the majority of the group stage. They got up and running with an excellent 3-1 win over Hungary and while the form of that win wasn’t franked they never looked in any trouble against Scotland, where you got the sense that the main aim of the Swiss was to get the point they needed to progress. They were seconds away from beating Germany in their last group game and had they held on they would have won that group.
It might not be a bad thing that they didn’t hold on with the way the draw has worked out. Switzerland have looked vibrant in attack in this tournament and while their defence hasn’t completely convinced you get the feeling they can win games with their excellence at the other end of the pitch, which hasn’t always been the case when they have got to knockout stages. A win here would see them emulate their run of three years ago where they made the quarter finals.
Italy
It has been an up and down campaign for the defending champions so far but much like they did when they won this tournament three years ago, Italy have found a way to progress and while they are in the competition they have the potential to improve. They are probably going to need to because there was little that was impressive against Albania in their opener, they could easily have been thrashed by Spain in their second game and only an incredibly late equaliser against Croatia got them into the top two in their group.
I think heading into the competition many expected Italy to be less convincing defensively than in the past and that has certainly been the case but we did expect them to show more in attacking areas than would be stereotypically the case. That hasn’t really happened although a lot of that is down to the lack of convincing personnel at the top end of the pitch rather than their approach or anything like that. They could do with finding a cutting edge ahead of this one.
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Team News
Switzerland will be without wing-back Silvan Widmer as he has picked up a couple of yellow cards in the group stage of the competition. Murat Yakin has a number of attacking options to call upon with Ruben Vargas hoping he is back in favour.
It looks as though the calf injury that Federico Dimarco has been managing through this tournament has caught up with him and he will miss this match. Riccardo Calafiori is definitely out as he is suspended so the Italians will need to rejig their defence.
Betting
As a general rule I don’t like getting involved in outright bets to qualify and things like that because if something bizarre happens then both bets are dead in the water but I can’t get how Switzerland are the outsiders for this match based on what we have seen so far. Italy just don’t look like a side who are going to blow a team away and the longer this one goes on you would imagine Switzerland will like their chances more and more, especially when they troubled Germany as much as they did in the last game.
Italy can no longer rely on their defence to get the job done so if they don’t offer more in attack then this could be a long afternoon for them. There is every chance that this one ends in a draw but I don’t think Switzerland have to look to contain the more established nations anymore. I think they can take the game to the Italians and look to win the tie, either in 90 minutes or in an extra 30 or on penalties. Italy were seconds from going out in their group stage and I expect their reprieve to be a short lived one.
Tips
Back Switzerland to qualify for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Unibet
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