Euro 2024: Slow-starting defending champ Italy faces Switzerland in first knockout match

Defending champion Italy faces Switzerland in Euro 2024 pre-quarterfinals, aiming to continue dominance over Swiss after 31 years.

Defending champion Italy aims to continue its dominance over Switzerland to reach the quarterfinals of the European Championship on June 29. Switzerland hasn’t beaten Italy for 31 years and has only eight wins from their previous 61 meetings. But the Swiss are unbeaten this year and their only loss in 2023 came in the last game of qualifying. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. local (1600 GMT) on Saturday. Here’s what to know about the match:

— Italy has fond memories of playing at Berlin’s Olympiastadion after beating France on penalties in the 2006 World Cup final in its last game in the stadium, where it also defeated Austria 2-1 in the final of the 1936 Olympic Games.

— So far, Euro 2024 has been a difficult experience for the Azzuri, conceding after just 23 seconds in its opening 2-1 win over Albania, then being thoroughly outclassed in a 1-0 defeat to Spain, before it needed a last-second strike from Italy substitute Mattia Zaccagni to salvage a 1-1 draw against Croatia to finish runner-up in Group B.

— Switzerland opened with a 3-1 win over Hungary before 1-1 draws against Scotland and host nation Germany.

— Switzerland and Italy faced each other in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. They drew both games and the Swiss finished top of the group to qualify. Italy lost to North Macedonia in the playoffs and missed out. It was the Italians’ second successive failure to qualify for the World Cup.

— Switzerland players Yann Sommer, Ricardo Rodríguez, Remo Freuler, Noah Okafor, Michel Aebischer, Dan Ndoye, Dennis Zakaria, Silvan Widmer and Xherdan Shaqiri have all played in Italy’s Serie A.

— In contrast, defender Federico Dimarco is the only member of Italy’s squad to have played in Switzerland, spending one season at Sion in 2017-18.