Germany overwhelmed Switzerland 6-0 in yesterday's friendly match in Zurich and sent an unequivocal message to the Italian women's team, who will have to bring out their A-game on Monday in Bochum (20:30 CET, live on Rai Sport) - in the stadium where Claudio Gentile's Under-21 team won the European Championship in 2004 - in order to hold their own against the well-oiled machine coached by Christian Wück. A month after the 4-3 win against England at Wembley, followed by the narrow defeat against Australia, the 6-0 victory away against the Swiss team sends a strong signal, with Laura Freigang and Lea Schüller bagging two each, as well as Sjoeke Nüsken and Cora Zicai.

The disappointment of the 2023 World Cup, the quickest-ever exit for the Germans (group stage), is now a distant memory and with the arrival of the new coach, who last year won the European and World Championships at the helm of the Under-17 men's team. Germany are back to being a feared opponent. The growth appears to be constant and, after coming third in the first edition of the Nations League and getting the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, Wück's squad is aiming at their ninth European title. It is on him, the fifth coach in eight years, that the task of bringing the team back to winning a trophy after a decade falls: EURO 2013 and the Rio 2016 gold medal are too far away for a team that won everything - including two World Cups - between the 1990s and 2000s. In order to achieve this, the former Karlsruhe, Wolfsburg and Arminia Bielefeld striker is accelerating the generational renewal and expanding the squad to include youngsters who are coming to the forefront of football.

For the fixtures against Switzerland and Italy, Bayern goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger (a starter last month at Wembley), Lyon midfielder Sara Dabritz, Inter forward Lina Magull and Wolfsburg defender Jule Brand were not called up. In their place - just to give a few examples - the talented Cora Zicai (2004) from Freiburg, Alara Şehitler (2006) from Bayern and Lisanne Gräwe (2003) from Frankfurt, with the captain's ranks entrusted to the other midfielder of the Bavarian club Giulia Gwinn (1999), who in the last confrontation with Italy (5-2) in 2018 found the first of her 12 goals representing Germany (Barbara Bonansea, the only one among Italy's call-ups to have scored a goal against the Germans, also scored that day).

HISTORY. From initial Italian success to German domination. This is how the balance of the 28 previous matches between the two teams can be summarised. The odds are all in favour of Germany, who have won 16 matches against Italy's 4 (8 draws). Even in the goal tally, the gap is clear: 53 German goals, 21 Italian ones. At the moment, there is an open streak of 5 defeats in a row after the victory in Algarve in 2007 (1-0, goal from Silvia Fuselli), with a total of 15 goals to 4; in the 7 matches played in Germany, Italy has collected only one point, the 1-1 draw in Siegen on 28 June 1989. A draw, however, that was short-lived, because it arrived at the end of 90' in the semi-final of the European Championships, and the home team went on to win on penalties and then their first European Championship four days later. We have suffered a heavy defeat in our last three away matches on German soil, where three ‘5-ers’ have come: 5-0 twice in 2009 and 2011 and 5-2 in 2018.

ALGARVE CUP 2020, THE FINAL THAT WAS NEVER PLAYED. The two teams were meant to face each other after more than six years in 2020 in the Algarve Cup final, a match that was never played due to Covid. Milena Bertolini's team came to the tournament on the back of their great result at the 2019 French World Cup (a run that ended in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands) and in the first two matches they easily got rid of Portugal (2-1) and New Zealand (3-0). On 10 March, the first day of lockdown in Italy and one day before the match against the Germans, the Azzurri delegation - given the impossibility of finding an airline to guarantee their return - was forced to leave Portugal on a flight provided by the Federation. On that occasion, the German players showed what sport is all about, sharing the success with their Italian colleagues ("We would have preferred to win this trophy on the pitch. Both finalists are winners!" - this was the post published on the DFB profiles).