Swiss, you again? On the road toItaly at the European Championships in Germany, once again, the Swiss from Yakin. If the balance sheet has looked favorably on the Azzurri throughout history, in recent years the bitter memories of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Qatar have dominated the minds of all fans. In that group C in which we were the favorites for first place, the double draw (0-0 in the first leg and 1-1 in the return leg in Rome, both due to an error from the penalty spot Jorginho) and the one in Belfast against Northern Ireland relegated Italy to the second valid for the playoffs then lost against North Macedonia. But the precedents are much broader than these latest plays…
Italy-Switzerland, the precedents
Having said that bitter double draw in the group stage, there is also that beautiful memory of the last European Championships, namely the 3-0 achieved Locatelli (double) e Motionless at the Olimpico in Rome, both absent from the squad Spalletti. The danger, however, may be around the corner because, beyond this success, in the last 8 matches there have been 6 draws (24 in total in history) and therefore the risk of additional time could be high and they have already eliminated France in 2021 just like this with Summer among specialists, but also Donnarumma it is no different remembering Wembley or more recently the one saved at Modric against Croatia.
To go and find the defeat against the Swiss we need to take a big step back, exactly 31 years ago when on 1 May 1993 the Italy of Sacks they were defeated 1-0 by the team then managed by Hodgson. It was always a group stage for qualifying for the World Cup, this time painless because they still came in first place. Two heavy defeats came in 1954 in Bern during the World Cup: 2-1 on debut and 4-1 suffered in the play-off to access the quarter-finals. In total, the matches played against Switzerland are 61, the national team faced several times in the history of the Azzurri: Italy has won 29 times, drawn 24 times and lost only 8 times.. So the precedents smile on Italy, but Saturday’s match in Berlin will still have to be taken with a grain of salt to avoid an unpleasant result.
