Euro 2024: Italy edge Switzerland in last-16 combined XI

Ahead of the Euro 2024 Round of 16 getting underway on Saturday, we’ve put together a Combined XI for the first knockout clash, between Switzerland and Italy. 

Based on players’ WhoScored ratings throughout the tournament thus far, Italy narrowly edge out their opponents, with six representatives to Switzerland’s five. 

Euro 2020 Player of the Tournament Gianluigi Donnarumma takes up a place between the sticks ahead of Inter’s Yann Sommer, while Newcastle’s Fabian Schar is the only Swiss defender in the back three. 

The backline is completed by Inter and Bologna defenders Alessandro Bastoni and Riccardo Calafiori, with the latter’s performances putting clubs across Europe on alert this summer, thouth he is suspended for this one. 

The midfielder four is split between the teams, with Italy’s Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Nicolo Barella taking up berths on the right-hand side, and Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka and Michel Aebischer completing the quartet. 

Offensively, it’s the Swiss who have the edge over their Italian counterparts, with Lorenzo Pellegrini joined by Daniel Ndoye and Breel Embolo. 

With little to separate the sides statistically, expect a closely-fought encounter on the pitch in Berlin on Saturday evening.