Italy make six changes, Swiss replace Widmer with Vargas
BERLIN - Italy manager Luciano Spalletti has made six changes for the last 16 tie with Switzerland on Saturday from the side which drew with Croatia in their final group game, with the Swiss making just one enforced switch.
Gianluca Mancini comes in at the back for Italy's suspended Riccardo Calafiori, his first appearance of the tournament. Federico Chiesa and Gianluca Scamacca return after both were dropped for the last game.
Nicolo Fagioli, Bryan Cristante and Stephan El Shaarawy all make their first starts of Euro 2024 as Spalletti looks to shake things up, dropping Jorginho, who started all three group games. Federico Dimarco is also on the bench after injury problems.
Swiss coach Murat Yakin has made only one change, with Ruben Vargas, who started the first two games, back in the side which is missing the suspended Silvan Widmer from the team that started the final group game with Germany.
Switzerland: Yann Sommer; Fabian Schaer, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez; Fabian Rieder, Remo Freuler, Granit Xhaka, Michel Aebischer; Ruben Vargas, Dan Ndoye; Breel Embolo
Italy: Gianluigi Donnarumma; Matteo Darmian, Alessandro Bastoni, Gianluca Mancini; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Bryan Cristante, Nicolo Fagioli, Nicolo Barella; Federico Chiesa, Gianluca Scamacca, Stephan El Shaarawy REUTERS