It is going to be yet another home match for Italy in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico where they will be hoping for much of the same result when they take to the pitch against Switzerland. Although an own goal broke the deadlock early in the second half, they were made to battle for it.
The Swiss will take confidence from their matchday one fixture against Wales though and will be looking for all three points this time round after falling just short thanks to an offside VAR call that took away their hopes of all three points.
- Head to head:
Switzerland have won on Italian soil just once in all 24 head to heads D5, L18, although the one win came at this very same stadium way back in 1982. However, in their last five meetings, there have been four draws and one win for Italy, seven goals scored and two 0-0s.
- Odds:
Italy are 1/60 to win the game and Switzerland are 6/50 to win the game.
- Previous defensive record:
For the first time in 39 years, Italy scored more than two goals at a Euro tournament, when they won 3-0 against Turkey in match one. Switzerland could only muster up a 1-1 win against Wales and thought they had won it near the death but for a VAR offside ruling. But Italy can take confidence from their ninth clean sheet and will be aiming to make it ten against the Swiss.
- Players to watch:
Once again, the Italians star man is Ciro Immobile who scored his 14th goal for his country against Turkey. Breel Embolo (Switzerland) has scored four of his previous five competitive goals inside the first hour, including his strike in matchday one against Wales.
- Team News:
Alessandro Florenzi (Italy) is ruled out with a calf injury.
- Predicted Line-ups:
Italy possible line-up: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Acerbi, Spinazzola; Barella, Jorginho, Locatelli; Berardi, Immobile, Insigne
Switzerland possible line-up: Sommer; Elvedi, Schär, Akanji; Mbabu, Zakaria, Xhaka, Rodríguez; Shaqiri; Embolo, Seferović
Managers view:
Roberto Mancini, Italy: “We had a good game against Turkey. It was important to start well in Rome, and I think it is a satisfaction for everyone who is with us: for the fans and all Italians. It was a beautiful evening, so I hope there are many others like it. There is still a long way to go; we have to play six more games like this [to win the title], starting with the one against Switzerland.”
Vladimir Petković, Switzerland: “We certainly created many chances [against Wales]. We perhaps should have finished off one or two of them. It’s disappointing, but we’re not too displeased with our performance. Against Italy it will be a very different match.”
Last six form guide (most recent first):
Italy: WWWWWW
Switzerland: DWWWWW
If Italy perform as they did in the first half against Turkey, they will be looking to not only register a first half shot difference of +14 which is the biggest margin in Euro finals since 2004, but they will be looking to find the back of the net with most of the shots, something they failed to do so in the first half against Turkey, if they manage that then surely nothing less than a comfortable home win will be the outcome.
Coming through with another clean sheet in this game would put Italy within one game of equalling their existing all-time record of 30 games unbeaten (1939-present). But Switzerland have an array of talent on the pitch that can score at any given moment and will surely prove a much tougher tests for the home side than what Turkey did on matchday one.
