Italy’s hopes of retaining their European Championship title came to a miserable end in the last 16 of Euro 2024 on Saturday after they stumbled to a 2-0 loss to Switzerland, the first time they have exited before the quarter-final stage in 20 years.
Goals in each half from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas sealed a comfortable victory for the efficient Swiss, who move on to a quarter-final meeting with either England or Slovakia in Duesseldorf on July 6.
Italy coach Luciano Spalletti made six changes to his starting line-up, but instead of instilling energy and creativity into the team, they looked disjointed and without invention, and barely managed a shot on goal.
Freuler showed excellent control in the box after being picked out by Vargas and struck the ball low into the net on 37 minutes, before the latter curled a superb shot into the far corner at the start of the second half to underline Switzerland’s superiority.
