The most exciting battles of EURO 2024 are about to begin, with the first matches of the Top 16 taking place on 29 June. On Saturday at 19:00, Switzerland will be looking to knock the reigning champions Italy out of the tournament, while the host Germans will take on Denmark at 22:00.

Switzerland qualified for the eighth-finals quite confidently, finishing second in Group A behind Germany.

⚽ Match prediction: Switzerland to advance to the next round @ 2.20

The Swiss narrowly missed topping the group with an equalising goal from Niclas Fullkrug for Germany in the 90+2 minute. The draw left Switzerland in second place with 5 points and Germany in first place with 7.

Italy’s road to the EURO 2024 quarter-finals was much more complex and required a lot of luck. The reigning European champions play in Group B with Spain, Croatia and Albania.

They won the first game 2-1 against the Albanians, lost 0-1 to the Spanish in the second game, and in the deciding game against the Croatians, the fate of both teams was decided.

Croatia was winning 1-0, meaning Italy remained at 3 points and was not guaranteed to qualify for the next round. However, Mattia Zaccagni scored the equalising goal in the 90+8th minute, which left Italy second in the group with 4 points, and Croatia with the championship over.

Italy came to defend their title with a relatively renewed squad. Players like Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, and Marco Verratti have left. The squad’s loss of talent is also reflected in the game.

If Italy was able to correct a mistake fairly quickly against Albania, resulting in the fastest goal in the history of the Euros, against Spain and Croatia we saw a very different picture. Spain dominated the game, and the scoreline of 1-0 does not reflect the reality on the pitch.

Switzerland is playing solid so far. They started the tournament with a 3-1 win over Hungary and drew against Scotland, which was not a bad result for the Swiss—with 4 points, they pretty much secured a place in the playoffs.

However, Switzerland looked even better in the third game. They held a long lead over the Germans and narrowly missed out the top spot.

The squad has several experienced players: Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka, Yann Sommer, Manuel Akanji, Silvan Widmer, Nico Elvedi, Danis Zakaria, Breel Embolo, and Ricardo Rodriguez.

It’s worth remembering that this Swiss team made headlines by knocking out the world champions, France, in the EURO 2020 quarter-finals. With this impressive feat under their belt, they now have a real chance of repeating history against the European champions, Italy.

Switzerland made a much better impression in the group stage, and experience at this level is on their side.

This EURO 2024 prediction is for guidance only and we are not responsible for your bets.