By Philip O’Connor
BERLIN (Reuters) – Swiss winger Ruben Vargas answered his captain’s half-time call against Italy in their Euro 2024 last-16 clash at the Olympiastadion, scoring seconds after the break to give his side a 2-0 win that saw them through to the quarter-finals.
The 25-year-old had already created the opener for Remo Freuler eight minutes before the break when skipper Granit Xhaka asked him in the dressing room to put the match beyond doubt.
“Just before the second half Granit said to me, ‘Please Ruben, score a goal, one way or another’, and then I found myself on the ball a short while later,” a beaming Vargas told reporters after receiving his man of the match award.
“I remembered what Granit said, him telling me to shoot – I shot, and I’m delighted the ball found the back of the net.”
That goal early in the second half effectively sent defending champions Italy out of the competition, and Vargas praised his team for how they nullified their opponents.
“We caused problems for Italy because we were very aggressive, right form the word go. We had the better of every 50/50, we didn’t give them any time to breathe, we were constantly breathing down their neck,” he said.
Vargas and his team mates will be eagerly watching on Sunday as England take on Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen, with the winners facing the Swiss in Duesseldorf next Saturday.
“We know that the games won’t be easy – far from it. We need to focus on ourselves and our performances need to be the crucial factor, regardless of who we come up against,” Vargas said.
“I’m very happy with the fact that we’ve made it through to the quarter-finals, I’m going to try to enjoy this and prepare as best I can for our next match – we want to go a lot further than this,” he said.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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