ITALY are Euro 2020 champions after beating England on penalties at Wembley.
Luke Shaw netted early for a rampant Three Lions, before Gareth Southgate’s men were pegged back in the second half by Leonardo Bonucci.
And after a tense and hard-fought draw over the full 120 minutes, it came down to spot-kicks once again.
Ultimately it was to be heartbreak for England, with Gialuigi Donnarumma saving from Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, while Marcus Rashford’s penalty hit the post.
Follow all the reaction with our live blog below…
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PRIME PRAISE
Boris Johnson has praised England for “playing like heroes” after the team lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
The PM declared Gareth Southgate’s squad “deserve great credit” for making it through to the nail-biting showdown – but described the defeat as “heartbreaking”.
Boris, who attended the match with wife Carrie, tweeted after Italy clinched the win: “That was a heartbreaking result to end #Euro2020 but Gareth Southgate and his @England squad played like heroes.
“They have done the nation proud and deserve great credit.”
.Credit: AP ENGLAND CAPTAIN HARRY KANE
“We couldn’t have given more. Penalties are the worst feeling the world when you lose. It wasn’t our night but we had a fantastic tournament and can hold our heads high.
“It’s going to hurt but we’re on the right track and hopefully we can build on this. We went through our process and the players did everything we could but it wasn’t to be.
“These things can happen. Anyone can miss a penalty. We win together and lose together, those boys will grow from it and it will give us even more motivation to do better in the World Cup next year.”
ROY KEANE
“If you’re Sterling or Grealish, you cannot sit there and have a young kid [Saka] go up for a penalty ahead of you, you can’t.
“You cannot let a shy 19-year-old go up in front of you.
“They have a lot more experience, Sterling has won trophies, they had to get in front of the young kid and stand up.”
.Credit: Getty
GREAL FAN
Jack Grealish came off the bench for England against Italy in the Euro 2020 final – leaving one cheeky fan delighted.
A blonde woman was caught on TV cameras waving a football shirt with ‘Mrs Grealish 69’ on the back as her hero came on.
And she was not finished their with her hopefulness – she was holding up a Manchester United ‘Zebra’ shirt.
The Red Devils are just one of the clubs Grealish has been linked with, despite his side Aston Villa being desperate to keep hold of him.
Unsurprisingly, the clip of her showing her love for Grealish was the talk of Twitter.
HARD TIME
Harry Kane failed to have a single touch in Italy’s box in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday.
The England captain was barely given a sniff by Italy’s defence as the Three Lions lost at Wembley.
Kane had four goals to his name in England’s run to the final – one fewer than Cristiano Ronaldo and Patrik Schick.
The Spurs forward, 27, also needed just one goal to pass Gary Lineker’s record of England goals at major tournaments.
But the striker was kept quiet all night by Georgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci in the centre of the Italian defence.
KATE’S PAIN
Harry Kane consoled his teary wife Kate after England’s Euro 2020 penalty shootout heartbreak.
Gareth Southgate’s squad were understandably devastated at the full-time whistle with the likes of Declan Rice in tears.
Watching from the stands was Kane’s wife Kate who cut a distraught figure among the fans.
Pictures show Kane hugging his childhood sweetheart as she wipes away her tears.
VILE ABUSE
THE FA are ‘appalled’ at racist abuse suffered by England players on social media after their Euro 2020 final loss.
According to The Athletic, Rashford, Saka and Sancho had vile comments left on Instagram and sent monkey emojis.
An FA spokesperson said: “The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media.
“We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team.
“We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.
“We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences.
“Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse.”
.Credit: AFP GARY NEVILLE
“They’ve been absolutely outstanding through this tournament and they’ll come back stronger. They need to feel this pain tonight.
“They need to do their interviews and talk about how this feels – because this team has been honest and genuine all the way through.”
.Credit: AP SPECIAL MOMENT
What a story for Chelsea and Italy legend Gianluca Vialli.
A true fighter and warrior.
ALAN SHEARER
“They’ve given us hope, they’ve given us something to be proud of. It’s just a devastating way to lose it after what they’ve given us the last month.
“It’s horrible when things like this happen but it’s football and you’ve got to find a way to move on.“
.Credit: AFP .Credit: Getty ENGLAND MANAGER GARETH SOUTHGATE
“We are all together. The players have been incredible to work with and given the country some unbelievable memories.
“The opportunity to win trophies like this are so rare, but when they reflect on what they’ve done they should be incredibly proud of themselves.“
.Credit: Getty LING PRIDE
WHAT A JOURNEY
ENGLAND MANAGER GARETH SOUTHGATE
“We’re hugely disappointed of course. I think the players have been an absolute credit and given everything they possibly could. At times they played really well, at times we didn’t keep the ball well enough.
“But they’ve been an absolute joy to work with and gone further than we’ve gone in so long and there’s a lot of pain in that dressing room.”
“At the moment the pain of the defeat is huge. We wanted to give our nation one more special night but weren’t quite able to do it.”
.Credit: Reuters
YOUNG STAR
This man has a great career ahead of him.
19 years old and one of the stars of the last month.
Tonight’s penalty miss will not define him. He’ll be back.
IT’S ON ME
England boss Gareth Southgate takes the blame for tonight’s loss.
HARRY’S PAIN
TWO SIDES
There will be plenty of agony across England tonight, but these were the scenes in Rome…
ENGLAND CAPTAIN HARRY KANE
“We couldn’t have given more. Penalties are the worst feeling the world when you lose. It wasn’t our night but we had a fantastic tournament and can hold our heads high.
“It’s going to hurt but we’re on the right track and hopefully we can build on this. We went through our process and the players did everything we could but it wasn’t to be.
“These things can happen. Anyone can miss a penalty. We win together and lose together, those boys will grow from it and it will give us even more motivation to do better in the World Cup next year.”
.Credit: AP MOMENT IN TIME
The moment Italy were waiting for.
Their second European Championship to go with the 1968 triumph.
A first major trophy since the 2006 World Cup.
Congratulations to Italy.
NAIL ON THE HEAD
The most perfect tweet from England to sum up what we’ve been through tonight, the last month, and the last year and a half.
IT’S GOING ROME
Italy players are ready to collect their winners’ medals.
A nice touch as up first is Spinazzola, who ruptured his achilles in the quarter-finals and on crutches.
.Credit: Getty .Credit: AFP .Credit: Reuters MAN OF THE TOURNAMENT
Is Italy goalkeeper Donnarumma – the hero tonight at Wembley.
A WORD ON ITALY
What they have achieved has been nothing short of magnificent.
They embarrassingly missed the World Cup in 2018 but Mancini has turned it around and got them back on top.
A sixth major tournament win for them.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
