Italy's poor performance resulted to its elimination from the Euro 2024 tournament.

Arrivederci agli Azzurri, campione d'Europa no more. Italy's defence of their European crown ended prematurely and timidly on the same pitch where they won their fourth World Cup. Marcello Lippi's team secured themselves of immortality in Berlin 18 years ago, whereas Luciano Spalletti's side received only ignominy. They were devastated by their setback.

Nevertheless, Switzerland triumphed magnificently. They have long been overshadowed by their neighbours, but a first success against Italy in three decades followed their elimination of France in Euro 2020. Switzerland has made the last eight European Championships in a row, after not reaching the quarterfinals since 1954. Now they are on the verge of history. Fresh off coming within a few minutes of defeating Germany, Murat Yakin's team demonstrated why they are one of the tournament's best.

They played with the togetherness that Italy lacked, as well as the clear game plan that the Azzurri required. They have the great touches to score two stunning goals. Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas scored, and both were excellent. Granit Xhaka's best season continued - he has yet to lose a match in Germany since joining Bayer Leverkusen - and, while Spalletti rested Jorginho, the Swiss captain ruled the midfield. Switzerland has more opportunities and creativity than Italy, as well as greater desire and urgency. They had more possession when it mattered, with Xhaka completing more passes in the final third than Italy in the first half, and they defended more tenaciously after that.have hitherto been synonymous with defensive resilience, but Manuel Akanji and Ricardo Rodriguez provided nerveless excellence at the back, while Yakin, a considerably less known coach than his Azzurri counterpart, delivered a tactical triumph. It was an indictment of Spalletti: Italy felt outthought and outplayed.

A team that trailed after 23 seconds in their tournament has managed to undermine itself through poor starts. They mustered two types here: totally listless in the first half, somnolent in the Berlin heat, long before they conceded, and then contrived to concede another goal 34 seconds after the break. It occurred shortly after the debut of Mattia Zaccagni, their rescuer against Croatia. Spalletti pursued a similar strategy of bringing on forwards in the hopes of a comeback. This time, it didn't work.

Instead, there was a cleansing component for the Swiss scorers. After being sent off in Switzerland's Euro 2020 quarter-final defeat to Spain, Freuler saw a goal as a step toward redemption. Vargas, who missed a penalty in that shootout, found solace in helping Switzerland advance to the final eight.

Switzerland had already hinted at an incision before striking. Breel Embolo advanced behind the Italian defence after receiving a first-time pass from Michel Aebischer. Gianluigi Donnarumma made a fantastic save to deny him.

Donnarumma, a player from the previous European Championships, was one of the best goalkeepers in this tournament. On the stroke of half-time, he produced an excellent stop by tipping the irrepressible wing-back Fabian Rieder's dangerous free kick onto the near post. He was still powerless to stop either goal. First, Freuler timed his run into the box to meet Vargas' low pass, took a touch to set himself up, and fired a half-volley past Donnarumma with a deflection off Gianluca Mancini. Then Italy stepped back and watched the influential Vargas curl a shot past Donnarumma.

Italy experienced two near-misses, but only the later could be described as anything they had truly created. Fabian Schar managed to head a Nicolo Fagioli cross against his own goal. Zaccagni threatened to pull off another amazing escape, passing to Gianluca Scamacca, who pushed a shot against the upright.

However, Italy had to pay the price for its mediocre start. Spalletti had an entirely new forward line, but his team had no shots on goal in the first half, and Yann Sommer had only one stop to make in total. Spalletti, who had already changed his starting eleven six times, made another move at halftime by summoning Zaccagni. Then there were flickers from Federico Chiesa, one of the few 2021 team survivors.

However, with Roberto Mancini in Saudi Arabia, Marco Verratti in Qatar, Lorenzo Insigne in Canada, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci retired, and Jorginho on the bench, the Wembley triumph feels dated. After failing to qualify for the last two World Cups, Euro 2024 is yet another Italian disaster. It's already a Swiss success story. With England or Slovakia up next - and Switzerland may be grateful to Niclas Fullkrug for his injury-time equaliser for Germany that sent them into this round - the Swiss may not be done yet. But Italians are. They are no longer the champions of Europe. And in Euro 2024, they never looked like it.

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