Italy are European champions! They put more misery on The Three Lions as they reached the dreamland after a thrilling penalty shoot-out! Three consecutive misses from three of Southgate’s substitutes ended the hopes of England’s first major trophy since their 1966 World Cup win. This time, at the legendary Wembley Stadium, it’s Italy who take the spoils despite being behind for more than an hour of the match.England had a dream start but were forced to endure yet another heart-breaking ending that will hurt the Albion for decades to come. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed their spot kicks to remind Gareth Southgate of his penalty miss in 1996 that largely tarnished his career. It’s a sad déjà vu for the England boss. It’s not coming home – it’s gone to Rome!LIVE Italy are the new European champions! EURO 2020 final as it happenedIt’s much easier to get a result when you get off to a good start – and starts don’t get much better than the one England tonight! Less than two minutes into the match, The Three Lions were ahead! Kieran Trippier, included in the starting line-up in place of Bukayo Saka, curled a terrific ball into the box for Luke Shaw to smash in with a well-taken volley. Wembley Stadium was absolutely rocking after the dream start from Gareth Southgate’s men.The Manchester United defender picked a great occasion to score his first goal for the national team. He also managed to get himself into history books because his strike was the quickest goal ever seen in an European Championship final, with the ball hitting the net just a minute and 57 seconds after kick-off.Agony for The Three Lions (©AFP)Shell-shocked Italians were just a pale shadow of the team that romped to the final. As they misplaced pass after pass. They were second-best for long periods of play. Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips were in charge of breaking up Gli Azzurri attacking moves and they’ve done their job with authority.Roberto Mancini’s men recovered after their sloppy start and began to control the midfield as the half time break approached. Federico Chiesa came ever so close to levelling the score on 35 minutes as he outsmarted Rice before darting towards Jordan Pickford’s goal. He got his had in hands when his low left-footed effort flew on the wrong side of post.Italian national team had won many honours in the past century – and most of those had been results of watertight defence. Their famed system of catenaccio, which was based on impenetrable defence gave them many wins. A simple recipe of scoring a goal and retreating back to prevent the opposition to even get a sniff of your goal worked like a charm. And even though the system is long since outdated, Italian reputation of putting heavy emphasis on defending has remained.From your grassroots clubs, to representing England in the #EURO2020 final. You’ve brought us all together and made the nation proud. 👏 pic.twitter.com/TQ7Krsr67r— England Football (@EnglandFootball) July 11, 2021 Tonight, it appeared as if the roles were swapped. England scored an early goal and spent the rest of the match rarely thinking about going forward. The Italians were frustrated and left to rely on set pieces and individual efforts to find a way through the English defensive wall. But the end showed that the Engish aren’t suited to such style of football. They tried to play the Italian game and were left empty-handed.Federico Chiesa and Lorenzo Insigne were the main threats as the best Italian striker Ciro Immobile had an utterly ineffective night before being substituted around the hour mark.Where attackers failed – the defenders succeeded. England failed to deal with a hopeful corner on 67 minutes as captain Chiellini battled for a position on the six-yard box. His fellow Juventus centre-back Leonardo Bonucci pounced to poke the ball into the net and spark wild celebrations for the minority fans.💯 100% record in the group stages.👊 Beat #AUT, #BEL & #ESP on the way to the final.✅ Beat #ENG on penalties to lift the trophy.👏 #ITA have been very impressive in #EURO2020! pic.twitter.com/3rf54tB4iJ— SPORF ⚽️➡️🏠🏴 (@Sporf) July 11, 2021 Mancini was forced into hauling Chiesa off with five minutes of the normal ninety left. The tricky winger has picked up what looked like an ancle injury.Ninety minutes weren’t enough to settle this final and extra time brought 30 more minutes of drama and action. Although there weren’t any clear-cut chances, the extra time wasn’t an unusual snoozefest. No goals were seen, however, and we went to the ultimate drama – a penalty shoot-out that would decide the bitter outcome for the English and a glorious return to Italy for Gli Azzurri.Keep your head up @BukayoSaka87 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/K0GhooIsgJ— 433 (@433) July 11, 2021 Italy rule Europe!EURO 2020FinalSundayItaly – England 3-2 on penalties (1-1 AET, 1-1 FT, 0-1 HT)/Bonucci 67 – Shaw 2/Gianluigi Donnarumma is the first goalkeeper to be named Player of the Tournament at the Euros 👏 pic.twitter.com/mq6LDO92O6— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 11, 2021
