Sports has always been a great leveller and often produces results that ensure each team and player remains humble and grounded. One such instance was in the EURO 2020 Finals where the confident England was up against the challenger Italy and it produced a classic game of Football. Coming with the slogan “It’s Coming Home”, the England team proudly entered the Finals of the tournament while on the other hand, Italy made sure that the title changed to “It’s Coming to Rome”. Let’s look at the complete story of the match and understand how Italy came out at the top.
The UEFA European Football Championship, initially set for 2020, was rescheduled to 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The matches were hosted in 11 major cities of 11 countries associated with UEFA and in the Finals, the England team had to play against Italy to decide the ultimate winner of the tournament. The stage was set on 11th July 2021 at Wembley Stadium, London and the England team entered the Finals after beating Denmark in the Semi-Finals while on the other hand, while Italy defeated Spain in the Semi-Finals during the Penalty shoot-out.
For the Finals, the stadium was filled with 67,173 spectators and the game started under the dark and cloudy conditions. The match started with both the teams looking to take up an early chance in the match and in the first minute of the game, Italy got a corner but it was Harry Maguire who cleared the ball and allowed the England team to attack now. The clock was now reaching the mark of 2 minutes when England came out attacking and it was the captain Harry Kane who passed the ball to Kieran Trippier and it being a long pass, the players had to run back while the player was at the right side of the field.
Sensing an opportunity for a goal, it was Luke Shaw who called up for a pass into the penalty area and Trippier managed to cross the ball to him which came down as a half-volley and Luke Shaw managed to get it past the Goal-keeper which gave England a lead of 1-0 in just the first 2 minutes of the match. The whole stadium erupted in joy because the England team got the lead so early in the match and were now looking like the favourites to win the game. By the end of the first 15 minutes, England was looking strong but Italy was comfortably making chances to score a goal and had the Ball possession with them.
In the 28th and 32nd minutes of the game, Italy had a chance to make a comeback in the match but England’s defence cleared the ball well and the same happened with England in the 34th minute when they had a chance to double the lead but somehow the shot went wide and the scoreline was 1-0 by the end of the first half. Italy had the Ball possession for 61% throughout the first half and also had 6 shots on target, but somehow England’s defence was too good for them.
The second half of the game started with quick controversial calls as Italy’s Barella received the first yellow card of the match while the referees denied a penalty to England’s Raheem Sterling and the game was wide open now. In the 55th minute, Italy substituted Ciro Immobile and Nicolò Barella for Bryan Cristante and Domenico Berardi respectively. And in the next minute, Leonardo Bonucci was given the yellow card and it was the England team who got a chance to double their lead, but the attempt ended up going over the crossbar.
Till the 66th minute of the game, Italy was able to take up at least 3 attacks but the defenders of England made sure that the scorecard remained 1-0. Then it was the 67th minute when Italy earned a corner and it was Bryan Cristante who flicked the ball towards Marco Verratti who attempted a header and it came back off the Goalpost. However, Leonardo Bonucci who just received a yellow card had a chance to balance out and he reacted by tapping the ball into the Goal to give Italy a leveller and hence the scoreline was now 1-1.
The scoreline was level at 1-1 when England’s manager Southgate introduced Bukayo Saka, an attacking player, in place of Trippier, altering the formation to 4-3-3. Italy maintained the upper hand, prompting Southgate to make another change by bringing on Henderson for Rice. Chiesa’s threatening run down the left flank ended with Phillips dispossessing him, leading to the Italian winger’s injury-forced substitution. England created a couple of half-chances through Mount and Shaw, but their efforts missed the target. Despite this incident, the teams couldn’t be separated after 90 minutes, forcing the contest into extra time.
Early in extra time, Italy’s manager Mancini made two substitutions. He brought on striker Andrea Belotti to replace Insigne, who was the last of Italy’s three starting attackers. Mancini also substituted midfielder Verratti with Locatelli coming on. In the 96th minute, England had a big chance when Henderson passed to Sterling on the left. However, the experienced Italian defender Chiellini cleared the danger for a corner kick. From the corner, Phillips had a shot but it went wide while Donnarumma had it covered.
In the 99th minute, Grealish came on for England, replacing Mount. Soon after, Phillips was fouled just outside the Italian penalty area. Instead of giving England a free kick, the referee played advantage and let the game continue, but England’s attack broke down. Italy then threatened in the 103rd minute when Emerson Palmieri got past Walker on the left and crossed towards Bernardeschi, but the Italian missed the ball completely as Pickford punched it away. The first 15 minutes of extra time ended 1-1.
Early in the second period of extra time, Maguire was shown a yellow card for fouling Belotti. From the resulting free kick, Bernardeschi’s shot went through the England wall but Pickford saved it and collected the rebound. Sterling then did well to beat Chiellini near the Italian byline in the 111th minute, but the veteran defender recovered to get the ball away from danger. With no more great chances created, the Euro 2020 final would be decided by a penalty shootout after 120 minutes finished 1-1.
For the Penalty shoot-outs, Italy got the toss in their favour and they had the first chance to take the penalty shoot-outs. The Penalty shoot-outs went as follows:
| Penalties | |
| Italy (3) | England (2) |
| 1st Penalty: Domenico Berardi scored the first penalty and managed a goal as he got the ball to his left while the Goalkeeper dived to his right | 1st Penalty: Harry Kane was up against Gianluigi Donnarumma and he managed to hit the ball to his left. The keeper managed to dive in the same corner but wasn’t able to save the ball |
| 2nd Penalty: Andrea Belotti was against Jordan Pickford who stopped the Goal by diving to his left | 2nd Penalty: Harry Maguire scored the penalty to his right while the Goalkeeper dived to his right |
| 3rd Penalty: Leonardo Bonucci scored the penalty in the left corner as the Goalkeeper failed to judge the ball well | 3rd Penalty: Marcus Rashford’s shot hit the post, missing the goal despite deceiving the keeper |
| 4th Penalty: Federico Bernardeschi shot the ball in the centre of the goal while the keeper dived to his right | 4th Penalty: Gianluigi Donnarumma saved the penalty against Jadon Sancho by diving to his left and punching the ball away from the Goal |
| 5th Penalty: Jorginho shot the ball to the left of the goal but the keeper intervened. Despite hitting the Goal post, it rebounded back to the keeper and it was counted as a missed penalty | 5th Penalty: For the final penalty, Bukaya Saka shot the ball towards the right side of the goal but Donnarumma dived to the same side, saving the ball and giving Italy their 2nd title |
As soon as Saka missed the penalty, the whole England crowd along with the players saw a pin-drop silence while the Italy players celebrated. Throughout the whole match, it was the Italy team that dominated England and finally won their 2nd EURO Title. Leonardo Bonucci was given the Man of the Match award while his partner, Gianluigi Donnarumma was awarded the Player of the Tournament because of the Goal-Keeping that he did throughout the Tournament. Giorgio Chiellin, the captain of the Italy team collected the EURO Cup Trophy while the whole team celebrated at the Podium.
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