The Swiss national team deservedly beat defending champions Italy 2:0 in the round of 16 of the European Championship. This is what the players and coaches had to say after the triumph.
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- The Swiss national team sensationally and deservedly beat Italy 2:0 to reach the European Championship quarter-finals.
- Rieder is proud of the team, but also makes it clear that the tournament is not over yet: "We want to enjoy it now, but not get too caught up in the euphoria and prepare for the next game."
- The other Nati players and Nati coach Murat Yakin are also thoroughly satisfied.
Fabian Rieder is the first player to appear for the SRF interview: "I think I'm at a loss for words at the moment. It was the most important game of my career." The 22-year-old is proud of the team's performance and says in the style of a veteran: "We want to enjoy it now, but not get too caught up in euphoria and prepare for the next game." Asked about his own performance, he says that he is in a good mood. But he doesn't want to talk about himself: "We have an incredibly great team, the atmosphere is super."
Manuel Akanji is also beaming: "It's incredible. The support has been there since the first game, you can feel it on the pitch. We want to give that back. We deserved to win." Apart from a few misunderstandings, they didn't do much wrong, said the central defender. "We know that we can only do everything as a team," continued the Man City star, adding: "We can carry on like this."
«We know that anything is possible.»
The atmosphere in the stadium is really incredible. During the live broadcast, SRF pundit Beni Huggel is suddenly also celebrated by the fans. But the big stage naturally belongs to the stars on the pitch.
"I'm speechless," says Ruben Vargas, who thanks "God in heaven". He can't even realize it yet. "It's an incredible feeling," said the scorer of the 2:0 goal. Granit told him: "Please just score a goal" and then it took less than two minutes for him to score. "We know that anything is possible, we have to recover now and see who our next opponent is and just play like we did today."
"We won the game and are through to the quarter-finals. Simply a wonderful day," said Remo Freuler, who scored the 1:0. The ball reception could have been better, he says, but that's really a side note. "We knew it was very hot and if we let the ball run, it would be difficult for them too." The fact that the whole bench rushes over to cheer after the goal simply shows that the team is on the right track.
Murat Yakin is delighted with the fans: "It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. It's really great how we're supported here." They have been enjoying it since the first game, says the national team coach. Whether he expected Switzerland to be so superior: "It's no coincidence that they've always changed their system. They were looking for their identity."
Yakin continued: "I knew we would flatten them if they played with a back four." Yakin believes that the club's own system allows for a lot, and that there doesn't necessarily have to be a trained full-back on the pitch. "I get on blindly with Contini, we understand football the same way," says Yakin when asked about his assistant coach. The whole staff fits together perfectly in terms of character. There is also praise for the substitutes, who accept their role. "Everything fits at the moment," summarizes Yakin.
