There is a large portion of Italy in the Swiss national team. Remo Freuler, who has played almost eight seasons in Serie A so far, is looking ahead to a special round of 16 clash - and not just for him.
27.06.2024, 05:00
27.06.2024, 11:08
SDA
A lot of Italian will be spoken in Stuttgart on Wednesday. After almost seven years in Bergamo and now a year in Bologna, Remo Freuler does not find it difficult to answer questions from Italian (and Ticino) journalists in the local language. One thing seems particularly important to the 32-year-old. "Italy is the favorite," he emphasizes. No further explanation is needed, because "l'Italia è l'Italia". That's it.
Until recently, the statement that Italy was the favorite against Switzerland would probably have been met with a shrug of the shoulders by most people. On paper, it's clear anyway: on the one side are the Italians, four-time world champions and two-time European champions, who want to defend their title in Germany. On the other side are the Swiss, whose best European Championship result is a quarter-final appearance.
The fact that the question of favorites is still being asked is due to the Italians' rather modest performance in the group stage. They won with difficulty against Albania, had no chance against Spain and secured a point against Croatia thanks to a lucky punch in the 98th minute, which saved them second place in the group.
Dominating Serie A
The day before, 22-year-old Fabian Rieder slipped out the sentence that was certainly not quite meant, but has since been quoted a lot, that Italy should not be underestimated. With "Italy is Italy", Freuler, who is ten years older, set the record straight. Because he knows the Serie A, where all but three players in the Italian squad, including two goalkeepers, are employed.
Italian teams scored the most points in international competitions last season. This is why Freuler will be playing in the Champions League with Bologna next season; Italy will be represented by five teams in the top flight. "Whether Serie A is the best league in Europe is a matter of opinion," Freuler replies to the question. "But we certainly have a lot of very good teams in Italy and I'm happy to be playing there."
Some of his colleagues from the national team are likely to agree. In addition to Michel Aebischer (Bologna) and Ricardo Rodriguez (Torino), who have been playing there for some time, four Swiss internationals moved to Serie A last season: Yann Sommer from Bayern to Inter, Noah Okafor from Salzburg to AC Milan, Dan Ndoye from Basel to Bologna and Freuler from Nottingham to Bologna.
This makes the Italian league the second most represented in the Swiss squad after the Bundesliga, which has seven players. However, with five players in each of the Swiss starting line-ups so far, Serie A is clearly in the lead at this European Championship.
Memories of the last European Championship
Some of them experienced first-hand the 3-0 defeat by Italy at the last European Championship three years ago. Freuler too. The central midfielder still remembers well how the team analyzed the defeat carefully in order to prevent a repeat in the subsequent World Cup qualifiers. And indeed, with a 0-0 draw at home and a 1-1 draw away, the Swiss - Murat Yakin was new on the sidelines at the time - remained unbeaten in the direct duels and punched their ticket for the World Cup in Qatar ahead of the Italians, who later failed in the play-off.
All in the past. Freuler is aware that a lot has changed since those two games. Two new teams will meet on Saturday, and one important factor could be that the Swiss have a little more tournament experience. "It's quite simple: you have to be ready on the day of the game," says Freuler. "These games decide how the tournament will be judged in the end."
Too often, Freuler's experienced group had to accept elimination in the round of 16. The exception was the sensational victory over France on June 28, 2021 in Bucharest, which made them forget their 3-0 defeat to Italy twelve days earlier. On Saturday in Berlin, the Swiss want to experience those emotions again - also thanks to a large portion of Italy in the team.
