Switzerland v Italy LIVE: Line-ups and team news as reigning champions begin last-16 at Euro 2024

Given that over 70 per cent of the matches were used to eliminate just a third of the field, the modern group stage is almost less a final qualifying round than a warm-up. Except, this group stage has considerably conditioned how Euro 2024 now looks. It may also decide it.

If concentration of quality used to be the Euros’ best feature, there has never been so much quality concentrated on one side. It is arguably the most lopsided any international knockout stage has ever been, if also strikingly similar to last season’s Champions League. Germany, Spain, France and Portugal probably looked the best possible semi-final quartet after the second round of games, but only two can make it that far. They’re all on that side, which also features the story of the tournament in Georgia, a recent contender in Belgium, as well one of the highly capable mid-tier teams in Denmark. Slovenia, as we have seen, aren’t exactly easy to play.

There are some obvious consequences to this. Big teams are going to go out early. Those who make it through could be exhausted.

Pretty much every Euro 2024 contender is deeply flawed, explains Miguel Delaney, but a lopsided draw means anything can happen as the tournament now begins in earnest.

It’s a feeling deepened by the first real break of the tournament, following an intense start. After some squads packed three matches into eight days, teams like Austria now wait a full week for their next fixture. Managers have been glad of that, to the point it almost represents a break in the tournament, too.

“It is a new competition starting for us,” French manager Didier Deschamps said. It might almost be called the real European Championships now, right down to how it features just 16 teams in the way it used to. “We’ll see the real potential of every team,” De La Fuente added.

There are reasons to explain that mixed start; in turn, that prompted some of the criticism of Spalletti. He admitted making a mistake by retaining the 11 starters who beat Albania against Spain; the stories about the changes he would then make against Croatia prompted some of the subsequent breakdown in relations with the media. Spalletti took offence at the suggestions his players talked him into his team selection, objecting to the use of the word “pact”.

A row can be revealing for other elements. If Spalletti is still searching for his finest team, that is understandable. He only took over last summer. He lost Sandro Tonali to a ban for gambling. Nicolo Fagioli has served his, but that rendered him ineligible for matches during the season. He lost defenders Francesco Acerbi and Giorgio Scalvini just before the tournament.

Spalletti has had to adapt and adjust. Riccardo Calafiori, who was uncapped at the start of the month, has emerged as one of the most impressive centre-backs of the group stage. But Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Spalletti’s captain at Napoli, was savaged by Nico Williams in the Spain game. Spalletti switched from a back four to 3-5-2, a formation he played at Empoli and which was the subject of his dissertation at the Italian coaching school at Coverciano.

It illustrated his versatility. He is associated with 4-6-0, with Francesco Totti a false nine for an inventive, attacking Roma side; at Napoli, he prospered with a 4-3-3. Yet Italy do not have forwards of the calibre of Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia; the only man in Spalletti’s squad with a double-figure tally of international goals is midfielder Nicolo Barella. He seems unconvinced by Gianluca Scamacca. Winger Federico Chiesa is yet to recapture his Euro 2020 form. Spalletti argued he finished with six forwards against Croatia. Zaccagni, one of the less heralded, delivered.

If emotions could run understandably high in the aftermath of a 98th-minute equaliser, Spalletti seems to be seeking to win Euro 2024 one outburst at time; waging war with the Italian press – “I am not envious of someone who writes a lovely flowing piece of prose,” he said at one stage in Leipzig – and creating a one-man siege mentality with the perception everyone wants him to fail. Suffice to say, it is not the approach Gareth Southgate or Roberto Martinez will take. Less the ambassador, more a wizened ball of fury, Spalletti collected a caution for his own celebrations of Mattia Zaccagni’s dramatic goal against Croatia.

It was a late reward for one of his earliest decisions. The Lazio winger was brought out of the international wilderness by Spalletti for his first game in charge. His goal against Croatia has set up a shootout against Switzerland for a quarter-final spot. When club football paused for the 2022 World Cup, Spalletti’s Napoli were arguably the best side in Europe. His Italy have not begun Euro 2024 in the same vein, but there is a path to assume that status.

There was a point on Monday night, when Luciano Spalletti was mid-rant, when the thought occurred that the famously awkward Aurelio De Laurentiis might not have been the awkward one in their relationship. Or the most awkward one, anyway. The Napoli president has a reputation as such a difficult character that one club who admired Victor Osimhen could not bear the thought of negotiating with De Laurentiis, so did not pursue their interest in the striker. Meanwhile, Spalletti left Napoli in the glow of a Scudetto when his employer triggered an extension to his contract, rather than discussing an improved one.

It created a path that led to Leipzig, to Spalletti being available to take the Italy job when Roberto Mancini left to accept the Saudi millions. He marked qualification for the knockout phase of Euro 2024, his greatest achievement since securing Napoli’s first Serie A title in 33 years, by lashing out in a press conference. “There is venom coming from all sides, and I inject the venom inside me myself if it doesn’t,” he said at one stage. His venom was such that he then felt the need to call one of his interrogators to apologise. He did it at 2am.

Switzerland XI: Sommer; Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez; Elvedi, Freuler, Xhaka, Aebischer; Rieder, Ndoye; Embolo.

Italy XI: Donnaruma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Mancini, Dimarco; Barella, Jorginho, Frattesi; Chiesa, Retegui, Pellegrini.

There are no known injury concerns for either side.

Wing-back Silvan Widmer is suspended, so any of Dan Ndoye, Fabian Rieder or Nico Elvedi could fill in. Breel Embolo started against Germany for the first time this tournament, so we could see him line up in attack.

Otherwise, expect to see a similar line-up to the one that started against Germany, with Ndoye, Xhaka and Aebischer all prominent.

Luciano Spalletti made several changes to his starting line-up against Croatia, but another poor performance from the Azzurri showed that none of them really worked.

Lorenzo Pellegrini was brought off at half-time in that match, so it remains to be seen whether he was injured.

Roberto Calafiori is booked, so Gianluca Mancini could come in at centre-back.

Mattia Zaccagni may have earned a starting place after his world class finish for the winner, while Mateo Retegui was enough of a nuisance to suggest he may start over Gianluca Scamacca.

Matteo Darmian put in an uninspired performance, so don’t be surprised to see Spalletti revert to four at the back once more, with Dimarco and Di Lorenzo as full-back.

Giacomo Raspadori was another whose performance never suggested he’d done enough for a starting berth, so expect to see Federico Chiesa return too.

When is Switzerland v Italy?

The match will kick off at 5pm BST on Saturday 29 June at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

What TV channel is it on?

The match will be shown on BBC One with coverage starting around 4.30pm. The match can also be streamed live online via iPlayer. You can find a full list of which channel is showing each match here.

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Holders Italy will face Switzerland in the last 16 at Euro 2024 as they look to retain the trophy they won so dramatically at Wembley three years ago.

And Luciano Spalletti’s side will face a well-drilled Switzerland side with plenty of attacking ability in their last-16 tie in Berlin. Murat Yakin’s team, which boast talents including Manuel Akanji, Granit Xhaka and Breel Embolo, eased to a 3-1 win over Hungary before drawing with both Scotland and Germany to ensure they advanced in second in Group A.

And so the Olympiadstadion is set for a tie between two evenly matched sides with plenty of history between them – will the holders advance to the quarter-finals, or can the Swiss spring an upset in Berlin?