Out-thought and outplayed: How insipid Italy tumbled out of Euro 2024

Italian head coach Luciano Spalletti walks away at full-time (Getty Images)

Arrivederci to the Azzurri, campione d’Europa no more. At the ground where they won their fourth World Cup, Italy’s defence of their European crown came to a premature, timid end. Marcello Lippi’s team assured themselves of immortality in Berlin 18 years ago; Luciano Spalletti’s side got only ignominy. They were dismal in defeat.

Yet Switzerland were magnificent in victory. They have often been overshadowed by their various neighbours but a first win over Italy in three decades was a sequel to eliminating France in Euro 2020. After no quarter-final appearances since 1954, Switzerland have made the last eight in consecutive European Championships. Now they stand on the brink of history. Fresh from coming within a couple of minutes of beating Germany, Murat Yakin’s side underlined why they have been one of the teams of the tournament.

They played with a cohesion Italy lacked, a clear gameplan the Azzurri needed. They had the touches of quality to produce two high-class goals. Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas scored and each was terrific. The finest season of Granit Xhaka’s career continued – he still has not lost a match in Germany since joining Bayer Leverkusen – and, as Spalletti dropped Jorginho, the Swiss captain ran the midfield. Switzerland had more chances and more creativity than Italy, more ambition and more urgency. They had more possession when it mattered, to the extent that Xhaka completed more passes in the final third than Italy in the first half, and more defiance in defence thereafter. Italy have been a byword for defensive resilience in the past but the nerveless excellence at the back came from Manuel Akanji and Ricardo Rodriguez, the tactical triumph from Yakin, a far less celebrated coach than his Azzurri counterpart. It was an indictment of Spalletti: Italy felt out-thought as well as outplayed.

A team who trailed after 23 seconds of their tournament have managed to undermine themselves with slow starts. Here they mustered two kinds: utterly listless in the first half, soporific in the Berlin heat, long before they conceded, they then contrive to let in another goal 34 seconds after the interval. It came just after the introduction of their rescuer against Croatia, Mattia Zaccagni. Spalletti followed a similar policy of throwing on forwards in the hope of a comeback. This time, it did not work.

Instead, there was a cleansing element for the Swiss scorers. Sent off in Switzerland’s Euro 2020 quarter-final exit to Spain, a goal felt like a step to redemption for Freuler. For Vargas, who missed a penalty in that shootout, there was a cathartic element to taking Switzerland back to the last eight.

There were hints of incision from Switzerland even before they struck. Freed by Michel Aebischer’s first-time pass, Breel Embolo advanced behind the Italian defence. He was denied by a superb save from Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The player of the last European Championships, Donnarumma has been one of the finest goalkeepers of this. On the stroke of half-time, he made an outstanding save to tip the irrepressible wing-back Fabian Rieder’s menacing free kick on to the near post. He was nevertheless left powerless to stop either goal. First Freuler timed his run into the box to meet Vargas’ low pass, took a touch to tee himself up and rifled a half-volley past Donnarumma with the aid of a deflection off Gianluca Mancini. Then Italy stood off the influential Vargas and watched him curl a shot past Donnarumma.

Italy had two near-misses, though only the latter merited a description as anything they had actually fashioned. Fabian Schar contrived to head a Nicolo Fagioli cross against his own post. Zaccagni threatened to conjure another great escape, heading to Gianluca Scamacca, who prodded a shot against the upright.

But Italy paid for that insipid start. Spalletti fielded an entirely new forward line but his side had no shots on target in the first half; indeed Yann Sommer only had one save to make in all. Having made six changes to his starting 11, Spalletti made another alteration at the interval when he summoned Zaccagni. Thereafter, there were flickers from Federico Chiesa, one of the few survivors of the team of 2021.

But with Roberto Mancini in Saudi Arabia, Marco Verratti in Qatar, Lorenzo Insigne in Canada, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci in retirement and Jorginho on the bench, the triumph at Wembley feels consigned to another era. After not even qualifying for the last two World Cups, Euro 2024 ranks as another Italian failure. It is already a Swiss success story. With England or Slovakia next – and Switzerland may be grateful to Niclas Fullkrug after his injury-time equaliser for Germany sent them into this half of the draw – the Swiss may not be finished yet. But the Italians are. They are champions of Europe no longer. And in Euro 2024, they never really looked like it.