Italy captain Gianluigi Donnaruma says the Euro 2024 last-16 match-up with Switzerland is the kind of game children dream of playing in.
Italy scraped through Group B as runners-up courtesy of a last-ditch equaliser in the final group game against Croatia.
We. Never. Give. Up. 💪 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/HSQHwyWGhP
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) June 25, 2024
The 25-year-old goalkeeper – player of the tournament as the Azzurri won Euro 2020 at Wembley three years ago – says his teammates will not need motivating for the clash with their neighbours in Berlin at 5pm BST on Saturday.
He told a pre-match media conference: “Wearing the armband is a huge honour but also a huge responsibility. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be involved in matches like these.”
“The lads are fully pumped up; they don’t to hear anything from me to get motivated.
“It is a very interesting game: the kind of game you dream about playing when you are a kid. I don’t think you need extra motivation for a game like this.”
Switzerland stunned France at this stage of Euro 2020, going through on penalties in Bucharest, and the PSG keeper says they need to be wary of their threat at the Olympiastadion.
“They are a very physically fit team who get their shape right on the pitch so we need to do be able to vary things,” he said.
“Sometimes you have to play it out from the back and sometimes you have to hit it long. We know they are very aggressive. We need to make as few mistakes as possible.”
“Switzerland are very strong physically: they play vertical, direct football. We have to be very careful about possession because they can hurt us with quick counter-attacks if they suddenly win the ball.”
