National team coach Murat Yakin has opted for an attacking variant in the round of 16 against Italy. Dan Ndoye and Fabian Rieder will be deployed on the right flank.
Who will replace the suspended Silvan Widmer on the right flank? That was the big question regarding the Swiss line-up for the match against Italy. Originally, Yakin had put Leonidas Stergiou in the line-up, arguing that he had ultimately called him up as Widmer's replacement. At the press conference the day before the game, the coach then mentioned a second option that had been rehearsed. This obviously convinced him more.
It seems that Dan Ndoye, who had previously played a more offensive role, will move one position to the back. He is no stranger to this. In the four test matches before the European Championships, Ndoye was always deployed in a midfield four, albeit on the left. Whether this will be the case again and Michel Aebischer will move to the right instead remains to be seen. As usual, captain Granit Xhaka and Remo Freuler will play in the center.
In attack, Switzerland will start against Italy with the trio of Fabian Rieder, Breel Embolo and Ruben Vargas. In defense, everything remains the same as in the first three games: Fabian Schär, Manuel Akanji and Ricardo Rodriguez have been reliable so far. There are also no changes between the posts, meaning that Yann Sommer, who won the Italian championship with Inter, will face some of his team-mates.
The Swiss line-up: Sommer; Schär, Akanji, Rodriguez; Ndoye, Freuler, Xhaka, Aebischer; Rieder, Vargas; Embolo.
