Italy beat Switzerland to gracefully glide into the Euro 2020 knockout phase

The Italian publication Linkiesta had described Switzerland as “always present” and “more or less able depending on the year, but they never have any great personalities”.

That judgment proved flattering to opponents who were convincingly beaten, but quietly Italy’s own personalities, much smaller than in their teams of yesteryear, are beginning to thrive.

Fittingly it was the deep-lying Sassuolo midfielder Manuel Locatelli who produced a surprise brace to fire Italy to a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Italy opened the tournament, are the first to secure guaranteed progression to the round of 16 and, on the basis of this display, will have high hopes of going the distance, stretching their unbeaten run to 29 matches. Remarkably they have not conceded in 965 minutes.

When asked if Italy