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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SAKA SUPPORT
Arsenal stars have rallied around youngster Bukayo Saka after his penalty agony handed Italy Euro 2020 glory over England.
The likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli sent messages of support to their teammate, who was subject to vile racist abuse online.
HIT LE SPOT
Matt Le Tissier has joked he would become England’s penalties coach for free, writes TOM BARCLAY.
The Three Lions lost the Euro 2020 final on Sunday night after more shoot-out heartbreak.
It added to similar painful exits at Italia 90, Euro 96 and Euro 2004 among other tournaments.
Le Tissier, who won eight England caps in his playing career, had a phenomenal record from 12 yards, netting 47 out of 48 spot-kicks.
The Southampton legend, 52, told GB News: “That’s a job I would quite happily do for nothing.
“Unfortunately in 20 years nobody has picked up the phone and asked me.
“But if somebody did pick up the phone I would be more than happy to help!”
BONUCCI BANTER
Leonardo Bonucci celebrated Italy’s Euros 2020 final triumph with a brutally mocking rendition of Frank Skinner’s and David Baddiel’s ‘Three Lions’.
A clip of the Italy centre-back raucously singing “it’s coming Rome” alongside Chelsea ace Jorginho has been shared more than 100,000 times on Instagram.
Italy beat England at Wembley in a dramatic penalty shootout to claim their second European Championship crown.
RIO’S RAGE
Rio Ferdinand has taken to Twitter to call out “idiots” using social media to send abusive messages to England aces.
And the former Three Lions and Man United centre-back is urging Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to take action against account users targeting players with racist posts.
Ferdinand tweeted: “You can bet ya last pound also that they would have sung the Raheem Sterling song almost bursting the veins in their bodies doing so.
“But England lose and that joy and sense of being United immediately evaporates and our black players become the target. It’s a disgrace that anyone should have to receive this type of online hate
“And just think about these same idiots only days ago would have been celebrating the brilliance of a Sterling or a Saka or a Walker for their efforts in an England shirt.
“These people I am talking about have shown us again who they really are!
“Social media companies please can we come together in creating a way to protect people on your platforms please…. Our young heroes need your attention too!”
GREALISH PEN GRIPE
Jack Grealish has taken a swipe at criticism directed at him following England’s Euros 2020 finals loss on penalties to Italy.
The dramatic shootout saw Gianluigi Donnarumma save two England spot-kicks from Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka with Marcus Rashford’s effort hitting the post.
ITV Sports pundit Roy Keane criticised Grealish and Raheem Sterling for not taking a pen ahead of Saka who at 19 is England’s youngest player.
But the Villa skipper retorted on social media quote tweeting a Sky Sports story featuring Keane’s comments.
On his Twitter account, the midfielder wrote: “I said I wanted to take one!!!!
“The gaffer has made so many right decisions through this tournament and he did tonight!
“But I won’t have people say that I didn’t want to take a peno when I said I will…”
GUNNER CONDEMN RACISM
Arsenal have joined the FA in calling out the racial abuse of England’s black players following the Three Lions’ penalty shootout loss to Italy.
The club tweeted a message of support along with a picture of England starlet Bukayo Saka who is among the players targeted on social media.
In a statement, the club said: “Last night we witnessed the leadership and character we’ve always known and loved in Bukayo.
“However, this feeling of pride quickly turned to sorrow at the racist comments our young player was subjected to on his social media platforms after the final whistle.
“Once again, we are sad to have to say we condemn the racism of a number of black players.
“This cannot continue and the social media platforms and authorities must act to ensure this disgusting abuse to which our players are subjected on a daily basis stops now.
“We have processes in place internally at Arsenal to ensure our players are supported both emotionally and practically on this issue but sadly there is only so much we can do.
“Our message to Bukayo is: hold your head high, we are so very proud of you and we cannot wait to welcome you back home to Arsenal soon.”
FA SLAMS ABUSE
The FA has hit out at online racist comments directed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka following England’s devastating loss on penalties to Italy.
This morning the football authority released a statement condemning the racial abuse of the Three Lions trio.
The statement 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.”
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 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.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
