Switzerland was the last team Scotland defeated at the European Championships in 1996.
Now Switzerland is standing in the way of their hopes of progressing beyond a group stage in a major final for the first time.
Germany’s goals in Munich dealt a major blow to their chances of securing three points and a place in the last 16, with a draw now the minimum requirement for Wednesday’s match.
Switzerland may not be on the same level as Germany, but they’re still a team that knows how to make it to the knockout stage – after all, they’ve done so in each of the past five tournaments.
While Scotland have been dogged by negativity during their winning streak of one win in 10 matches, Switzerland came into the tournament after an unconvincing qualifying campaign in the easiest group.
After taking maximum points from their first three games, they stumbled in the rest of their matches, managing just one win at home to underdogs Andorra and finishing second to Romania and just ahead of Israel.
They came back from two goals down in the dying seconds to draw, then dropped points to Belarus and conceded twice to Kosovo on their way to a sixth European Championship, with late concedings becoming commonplace.
In the end, they did enough, but their first-half performance against Hungary on Saturday suggests they are capable of progressing through the group stage again.
Captain Granit Xhaka led the team and was rightly named Man of the Match in a 3-1 win, with his role within the team not so different to that of Toni Kroos for Germany.
Many of the players on the team come into this tournament having enjoyed great seasons with their clubs.
Goalkeeper Yann Sommer helped Inter win the Scudetto in Italy, while Xhaka led unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title.
Leonidas Stergiou was part of Stuttgart’s best performance in the German top flight since last winning the title in 2007.
Lewis Ferguson’s club-mates Remo Freuler, Michel Aebischer and Dan N’Doye, along with the injured Scottish midfielder, helped guide Bologna into next season’s new Champions League, while defender Manuel Akanji won his second Premier League title with Manchester City.
This is a generation of players who know what it takes to succeed on the international stage, with 11 of the squad having won more than 50 caps and former Arsenal man Xhaka set to play his 127th cap against Scotland.
The memory of their defeat in a penalty shootout against then world champions France at the last Euros is still fresh, with France losing to Spain on penalties to miss out on a place in the semi-finals.
They backed up that achievement by reaching the knockout stage in Qatar at the last World Cup, only to be easily defeated by Portugal.
The match against Scotland will not faze Switzerland in the slightest, and Murat Yakin will know before they face Germany that a win will see them through to the last 16. The motivation for Switzerland is clear.
But he is not without pressure: Yakin had to receive a vote of confidence from the Swiss Football Association just days before the tournament. The appointment of experienced coach Giorgio Contini signals a recent change in tactics, similar to the successful formation employed by Yakin’s predecessor, Vladimir Petkovic.
It’s a year and a day since Scotland produced their miracle in Oslo, but can Steve Clarke and his players experience that same kind of major tournament magic as Ally McCoist’s 28 years ago against Switzerland at Villa Park?
If not, they could miss out on the tournament they’ve worked so hard to qualify for.
