Italy has won this year’s EURO after a dramatic penalty shootout against England at Wembley. Roberto Mancini’s men continued their impressive streak of 33 unbeaten games and won Italy their second EURO title- the last one was back in 1968.
After reaching the 2018 World Cup’s semi-final, the Three Lions reached their first final in a major tournament in over 50 years. Unfortunately, many fans feel that they should have won it as they played in front of their own fans at Wembley.
Recap of the Game
It all started well for the English team, as Luke Shaw gave the English team its first goal after only two minutes into the game. After the goal, Italy dictated the game’s tempo in the first half, but there was no serious threat to Jordan Pickford’s goal.
Italy continued to press and look for the equaliser in the second half, while Gareth Southgate’s side was only dangerous from counterattacks. However, in the 67th minute of the game, centre-back Leonardo Bonucci was the talisman for the Azzurri as he scored the equalising goal and forced the game to overtime.
The next 30 minutes of overtime did not bring any excitement to the game, as both teams were pretty exhausted. The only interesting part of the overtime was when the England manager introduced one of the best young players Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford, in the 120th minute of the game, which would later prove costly for the Three Lions.
Italy’s goalkeeper Gigi Donnarumma was the hero for the Azzuri as he was able to stop the penalties from Saka and Sancho, while Rashford was unfortunate and hit the post. Italy’s showstopper was later voted as the player of the tournament.
England’s players racially abused on social media
After missing the penalties for England, Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were victims of racial abuse on social media platforms. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the FA have condemned these attacks and released a statement saying that England’s players should be lauded as heroes. The players’ Instagram and Twitter feeds were subjected to racist comments, including monkey and banana emojis, as well as written comments with horrifying slurs.