Defending champions Italy were shown the exit door after losing 2-0 to Switzerland in their round of 16 Euro Championship clash at the Berlin Olympic Stadium Saturday.
Goals from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas, in both halves of the game clearly dominated by Switzerland consigned the lackluster Azzurris to an embarrassing defeat.
Coach Luciano Spalletti admitted that his wards were out of their depth and were drained of confidence after Switzerland got their second goal a few minutes after the start of the second half.
“It’s true that the goal at the start of the second half knocked the confidence out of us. Even if we were in their half, we were not incisive,” Spalletti told RAI Sport.
“What made the difference was the tempo, we were too slow compared to them in the first half. Even in terms of individuals, there was a different tempo of the movements and the duels.
“Unfortunately, sharpness and tempo makes the difference. Last time I thought perhaps if I gave them time to recover and change a few players, they’d be sharper. At this moment, for too many reasons, we are unable to do more than this right now.”
Italy were not convincing during their group outing, they came from a goal down to beat Albania 2-1, lost to Spain 1-0 and drew against Croatia.
Spalletti came in to replace Roberto Mancini midway through qualifying in September 2023, but now he must prepare for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
“There is a long path ahead, we’ll approach that slowly, but naturally we need a higher tempo from the team. Even without talking about quality, we need more spirit of sacrifice, more consistency closing down the opponents, getting back into shape, pressing.
“Unfortunately, many things also came from the way we ended the season. Our players weren’t in exceptional form and with the temperature this high too, it becomes difficult.”
