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| Is Switzerland primed to shock the Euros defending champions? (Photo credit: BBC) |
Defending champions Italy will square up against Switzerland in the first knockout game of the ongoing 2024 Euro championship at the Olympia Stadium in Germany.
It will be the first of two games on Saturday, with the other one coming up shortly afterwards at Signal Iduna Park, home of Borussia Dortmund, between the host nation Germany and 1992 Euro Championship winners Denmark.
Staying with the defending champions, it took a last-gasp Ricardo Calafiori-inspired move to land a leveller that sent the Azzuris into the last 16, breaking the hearts of Luka Modric and thousands of Croatians at the stadium last weekend.
Switzerland was quite close to winning Group A with a goal advantage over eventual group winners Germany, but it was a late Nicolas Fulkrug goal that levelled matters and crowned the hosts as the winners of the group.
Italy hasn't been impressed by any standards; the defensive shape that helped them win the title in 2021 hasn’t been the same with the Italians going into a major tournament without either Georgio Chiellini or Leonardo Bonucci for the first time in almost two decades.
Switzerland has everything it takes to trouble the defending champions: pace and trickery in Breel Embolo and Ben Ndoye, the experience of Granit Xhaka in midfield, and the back three of Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji, Newcastle’s Fabian Schar, and veteran Ricardo Rodriguez.
Calafiori will miss the game due to suspension, leaving Juliano Spalletti with Alessandro Bastoni, Gianluca Mancini, and Matteo Darmian as the men in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma. The PSG shot stopper has been an inspiration to this Italy side, and he will hope to keep Switzerland out.
For the other game at the Borussia Dortmund Stadium, Germany will not have it easy against Denmark, but the 1996 champions are expected to advance. Julian Nagelsmann will be without Bayern Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah, and Nico Schlotterbeck is expected to deputise.
Is Fullkrug set for a start? Nagelsmann might start Fullkrug alongside Kai Havertz, or he could replace the Arsenal player, who came off the bench to score twice in three games during the group stage. Florian Writz is another player who could give way.
How will Denmark stop Jamaal Musiala? The young gem has been a revelation yet again for the German Machines, and he could yet again be the leading light, getting into tight spaces and moving swiftly to trouble the Danes. He will be a handful.
For Denmark, the man who was snatched off the jaws of death by a timely Anthony Taylor interception at the last Euros and who has revived his career and scored Denmark’s opening goal of the tournament, talismanic Christen Eriksen, could be the man to watch out for.
Verdict: Switzerland to advance
Verdict: Germany to advance