Soccer-Reaction to Switzerland's 2-0 Euro 2024 victory over Italy

Soccer Football - Euro 2024 - Round of 16 - Switzerland v Italy - Berlin Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany - June 29, 2024 Switzerland's Remo Freuler celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) - Following is reaction to Switzerland's 2-0 European Championship round of 16 victory over defending champions Italy in Berlin on Saturday:

Italy coach Luciano Spalletti: "That goal at the start of the second half cut our legs, we weren't very incisive. What made the difference is the pace, we had a pace that was too inferior to them in the first half. Even in the individual players there was a different pace.

"Pace and freshness always makes the difference, I changed the players by letting them recover and maybe at the moment here we are not able to do more than this. World Cup? A discussion that will be done later, we need more legs and more pace. It takes continuity and sacrifice, in many of us we were not very consistent. We probably didn't get there in exceptional conditions.

"There is the possibility of building something, but it takes a little more time. I didn't have a lot of it, if we look at my predecessors almost all of them had more games than me. A few more games could have helped me. In terms of responsibility, that always lies with the coach, I made the choices. (Italian Football Federation president Gabriele) Gravina? He has always behaved like a serious professional with me and we will see what he has to say."

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma: "It hurts to go out like this, we apologise to everyone. Today we disappointed, they (Switzerland) deserved it. We struggled the whole match, in the first half we lost too many balls leaving too much space to them. It was tough, a very hard match to digest and that's how it is.

"Everything was missing in this match, even quality and in the first half we did badly because they always had the ball in the game. We should have started well but we conceded a goal straight away. You have to accept it, we disappointed."

Switzerland midfielder Fabian Rieder: "The feeling is great because we showed a really good performance. We showed from the first second that we really wanted to win this game. The spirit is incredible; everyone is happy, everyone runs for the other one, and I think we showed that on the pitch."

Switzerland forward Breel Embolo: "I'm happy proud and I think (the victory is) deserved. We deserved to win against a difficult team to play. We were compact and we created chances . We made a really good game and we scored at the right moment. I am really proud for the team and the staff and for the whole country."

Swiss fans in the crowd anticipating a place in the final: "Berlin, Berlin, we're going to Berlin."

(Reporting by Nick Said, editing by Ed Osmond)