In the first match of the 1/8 finals of the European Cup, Switzerland faced Italy. In the first half, Italian international Donnarumma saved Embolo's one-on-one shot; Fruhler scored with a left-footed volley in the 37th minute to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead to end the first half. Just 27 seconds into the second half, Italy conceded again, and Vargas scored with a shot, making one pass and one shot in a single game. In the end, Switzerland eliminated Italy 2-0, and the defending champions ended up in the round of 16.
In the last European Championship, Italy won the European Championship by defeating England on penalties in the final. Italy and England are in the same semi-zone at this European Championship, and they could have met in the quarter-finals. It's a pity that Italy failed to get past Switzerland in the end and fell in the 1/8 finals.
In this game, Italy lost particularly strangely. Before the game, Italy's starting line-up changed dramatically. Compared to the group stage, Italy's formation changed from three central defenders to 433, and as many as six players were changed in the starting line-up. In the entire midfield, only Barella started alone, and the other five players were all replaced. Such a drastic change in tactics before the game made people vaguely sweat for the Italian team.
As it turned out, coach Spalletti's change of formation and use of personnel was a complete failure. Throughout the first half, Switzerland had six per cent possession and scored one goal from 10 shots, while Italy had just one shot on goal. In the second half, Italy replaced El Shaarawy with the "equalizer" Zaccagni, but they conceded again just 27 seconds into the game. In the subsequent substitutions, Italy's starting three midfielders were all replaced, and Spalletti completely denied his own employment. Italy, who were already weak, could not salvage the defeat at all, and finally the defending champions fell in the round of 16.
The Italian team set two humiliating records: losing two games for the first time in a single European Championship; Italy failed to reach the quarter-finals of the European Championship for the first time in nearly 20 years. After the Italian team was out, head coach Luciano Spalletti refused to step down. He made a lot of excuses for himself, one is that he thinks that he has not enough time to prepare for the game, and he has only led the team to play more than ten games, and the other is that he thinks that the Inter players are not committed enough.
After the game, Spalletti made controversial remarks about the five Inter Milan internationals in the Italian squad. "Inter won the title very early," he said...... I made sure Inzaghi trained properly until the end, but maybe not mentally committed. "Last season, Inter won the Serie A title five rounds ahead of schedule, and five players were selected for the national team: Barella, Frattesi, Dimarco, Darmian and Bastoni.
Spalletti's comments caused an uproar after the game. Italy's only win in the tournament came from goals from Barella and Bastoni to give them a 2-1 comeback win over Albania. In the 1/8 finals, Barella, Damian, and Bastoni started 3 times, of which Barrera was replaced in the 64th minute, Darmian was replaced in the 75th minute, and Bastoni played the whole game alone. Frattesi came off the bench for four minutes and Dimarco did not play due to injury.