Another pulsating match was on the cards in the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Switzerland took on Italy in a round of 16 match-up that would determine who would advance to the quarter-finals of the EURO 2024. This fixture saw the Swiss exhibit a strong performance against a passive Italy side recording a 2 – 0 victory against the defending champions.

Key performances in the middle of the park from Granit Xhaka and Remo Freuler helped the team perfectly execute their tactical plan, with a result of the Swiss restricting the Italians to just a few breaks and half chances. Remo Freuler opened the scoring in the 37^th minute and Ruben Vargas capped off the scoring in the 75^th minute. This helped Switzerland sustain the pressure they put on the Italian defence and resulted in them seeing out the victory to book their spot alongside Germany, England, and Spain in the last 8 – where they will face England for a spot in the semi-finals.

Below we can see a shot map analysis for both teams in the game. This shows us the starting location for both teams’ shots and the final outcome of each shot.
(Goal, On Target, Off Target)

The graphic shows a clear representation of how the game went, with Switzerland having the majority of the shots between the two sides. Whilst Switzerland’s shots came from an even split between inside and outside the box – it is evident that Italy struggled to become a real threat to the opposition, with most of their shots coming from outside the box.

Also, both of Switzerland’s goals came from their left attacking side – which shows a weakness in Italy’s right defensive side. This is something that was also noticed in Italy’s game v Spain, when Di Lorenzo had trouble keeping Nico Williams quiet.