Switzerland vs Italy

Switzerland will take on Italy at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Saturday in the first game of the Euro 2024 knockout stages. The Swiss went through Group A unbeaten having drawn with Scotland and Germany and beating Hungary in their three group stage games. That saw them finish second and set up this tough tie against the defending champions. Having already locked horns with the tournament hosts and holding their own, they won’t be phased by taking on the Italians here for a place in the quarter-finals. Switzerland possess plenty of attacking threat and will fancy their chances.

Italy also finished second in Group B to secure qualification for the knockouts. Luciano Spalletti’s men couldn’t quite go unbeaten in their group, but there is no shame in losing just 1-0 to a very talented Spain side that is among the favourites to win the tournament. However, they had a huge scare in their final game with Croatia when Luka Modric put them 1-0 ahead. It took until the 98th minute for Mattia Zaccagni to score the equaliser and break Croatian hearts. The Azzurri haven’t really lit up the competition with their performances, but they know how to progress in tournaments.

This is a difficult game for both sides and the bookmakers have Italy as the slight favourites to win it in 90 minutes. However, we think this one will go past the 90-minute mark, so our tip is to back the draw in the match result market. We’d also side with Italy to progress via penalties. Dan Ndoye scored last time out for Switzerland and can find the net again if given the nod to start in this game. A common scoreline involving these teams has been 1-1, so that’s our final tip.

Check the table with our top picks below:

Finally, review our top choices for the other match: Germany vs Denmark.