Murat Yakin is someone who punched fear. He squeezed her hard when he was still a little boy. Growing up in Basel with a ball under his arm, at the age of 12 he showed up at social assistance offices to act as an interpreter for his parents, who left Turkey to give their children, Murat and Hakan, a better life. Two who have played football for twenty years at a high level. This is why a football match doesn’t worry him, even if it’s a European round of 16 final. “We are focused on tomorrow – admits the Switzerland coach in the press room of the Olympiastadion -, we know what we can do. Stop. And we also practiced penalties, but we would like to end it sooner.”
vs italia
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Yakin dodged questions about Xhaka and the discussions with some key players: “Few have written it. Granit and I have a good relationship and we give everything for the team. What has been said is now in the past. Only the European Championship counts”. The coach also spoke about the six goals conceded by Portugal during the last 16 of the last World Cup: “It was another tournament, completely different. We are only thinking about Italy”. Silvan Widmer, a right-back who played for Udinese, will miss the match against the Azzurri: “We have two options to replace him”. Nice words for Ndoye, Bologna striker: “One of the best exploits. Playing at the Dall’Ara did him good. He fought to become a starter. He is young and carefree, the goal against Germany put him back in the game. We haven’t talked about him moving abroad”. The last note is on the Azzurri’s transformationism: “We have done our homework. We didn’t just see these three games, but also the previous ones. Italy is capable of playing with different modules. It’s the country of tactics, I like that.”
sommer
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Yann Sommer appears in the press room of the Olympiastadion in Berlin with a smile on his face. Serene, relaxed, ready to answer a dozen questions from the reporters. In the first he goes out on a limb. They ask him if he is happy to challenge Jorginho again, hypnotized by the penalty in the match against Switzerland in 2021. The one that ultimately weighed on his exclusion from the World Cup: “I wouldn’t want to cross paths with him, actually. Tomorrow will be a different story. The most important thing is the match, I prefer not to focus on the penalty takers. There is a well-prepared staff that studies the shooters, I am just happy to play”. Sommer has already challenged Scamacca and Retegui in the championship: “It is an advantage to have already played against some Azzurri, but we have prepared to face Italy as a team. We don’t just think about individuals. After all, they remain the favorites. They are the reigning European champions…”. The objective is clear, however: “We want to move forward”. A comment also on Donnarumma: “He is very strong, really, I have already faced him in the past. And then he already has a great experience.
