Holders Italy crashed out of the 2024 European Championship following a 2-0 loss to Switzerland in the last 16 on Saturday evening.
The suspension of Silvan Widmer allowed Ruben Vargas to step in for the Swiss, while the Azzurri missed Federico Dimarco through injury but a raft of changes had Federico Chiesa, Nicolo Fagioli, Stephan El Shaarawy and Gianluca Scamacca stepped in notably.
Italy lacked a sense of comfort post the start and experienced difficulty dealing with the high-press from the Swiss who won a lot of the duals across all areas of the field.
A golden chance came the way of the Swiss ahead of the half-hour mark after a ball in space released Breel Embolo to cut into the box and launched a curler, but Gianluigi Donnarumma repelled.
The Swiss still dictated and deservedly hit the front ten minutes to halftime when Remo Freuler made a late run into the penalty area to engage Vargas' pass and volleyed in first-time.
Italy decided to make a change after the break and introduced Mattia Zaccagni in place of El Shaarawy, with their backs firmly against the wall.
There was no time to gather though as the Swiss added a second when Vargas opened up his body on the edge of the area to curl in the top corner, giving Donnarumma no chance.
Swiss defender Fabian Schar very nearly gave the Italians a route back after seeing his defensive clearance from a looping ball in-behind hit the upright.
Not too much in the way of chances came the way of the Azzurri thereafter, as the Swiss continued to enjoy the overall advantage in defence and attack.
The woodwork denied the Azzurri for the second time in the final stages through a close-range strike from Scamacca following a layoff by Zaccagni.
Switzerland controlled the latter periods successfully and marched to victory as well as the quarter-finals, with the holders eliminated.