JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
The Italians have been waiting for a European Championship title since 1968. They have since reached the final twice, but lost both to France in 2000 (2-1 after extra time) and to Spain in 2012 (4-0). By contrast, this is the first time the Islands have reached this stage of the European competition. It has been 55 years since their last success and winning the World Cup cup.
Before Sunday’s (11.07) final, to which among others the vice-president of UEFA Zbigniew Boniek was invited, an impressive ceremony took place at Wembley Stadium, with a fireworks show, musical and multimedia setting, dances, impressive choreography. Planes flew over the venue in an even formation.
The trophy for the winner was carried onto the pitch by Portugal’s Eder, who scored the goal in the final of the previous European Championship when his team beat France 1-0 after extra time.
England started the match by pressing and effectively blocking counter-attacks in their rivals’ half. After 2 minutes this is exactly what blinded the Italian team and gave Luke Shaw the lead for the English team on 1 to 0 . It happened exactly like this when Kieran Trippier passed in the direction of running into the penalty area Luke Shaw shot very strongly in footballargon we call it “bomb” in the light of the goal, and the goalkeeper did not even have time to throw in that direction.
In the 6th minute with the ball Italians and Azzurri passed to Chiesa, and he tried to pass the ball to one of the attackers, but the defense knocks the ball out.
For that in the 10th minute a dangerous action of the English. Sterling’s attempted pass from the right was deflected out by the Italian defenders.
Gareth Southgate’s team try to impose their style and pace and in the 13th minute Harry Kane makes a great pass on the right flank to Trippier, who immediately plays into the penalty area. The Italians kick the ball into the corner. Good work by Southgate
In the 45th minute in extra time +4 . Another good chance for Bonucci to hit the ball from distance and he wanted to equalize before the end of the first half at 1-1, but unfortunately very inaccurate. From goal Pickford. The Italians tried to respond,to attacks but their offense was effectively out of the game, through the first half did not threaten the goalkeeper Pickford.
The second half began and it was the Italians who looked decidedly better. Seeing the Italians’ attacking prowess and their rivals’ superiority, the English went back on the defensive. At times, as many as ten players from the British Isles positioned themselves in front of their own “sixteen” and tried to break the offensive drive of the “Azzuris”. Two central defenders did an excellent job. John Stones and Harry Maguire seemed to be an impenetrable wall. They were assisted by Jordan Pickford. The goalkeeper did very well twice on attempts by Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Chiesa. In the 62nd minute, Chiesa was the most dangerous player in their ranks, but Pickford made a great save.
In the 66th minute a good play by Chiesa, who centred for Insigne. Maguire clears it for a corner. And the inevitable mistake of the English defence was made, because in the 67th minute the Italians found a way through. In the 67th minute, the Italians found a way through the opposition. After a corner kick, Verratti hit the ball hard, but the ball flew behind the Pickford goalkeeper and bounced off the post to Leonardo Bonucci, who scored the equalising goal from close range for 1-1. Interestingly, this shot became the oldest goal scorer as he is 34 years and 71 days old in a European Championship final.
In the 73rd minute Berardi! A great pass into the English penalty area, but the Italian, in a one-on-one with Pickford, hits it high over the goal.
In the 79th minute, a pass into the Italian penalty area was cleverly cleared by the defenders. Chiesa fell to the turf in front of the penalty area.
In the 83rd minute Mount made a superb run down the left flank, dropped into the penalty area and played the ball back to Saki, but Saki had trouble controlling the ball and it could have been a goal for Gareth Southgate’s team.
Domenico Berardi also had a chance to score, but missed. The 90 minutes were inconclusive. Extra time was therefore needed.
Coach Roberto Mancini’s players have done the impossible. By defeating the English after a series of penalty kicks they became the first national team to win two consecutive eleven-score competitions at the Euro finals tournament. Six times lucky.
Luke Shaw and Leonardo Bonucci scored two goals in regulation time to give the Wembley fans two goals. It was therefore necessary to play extra time and then penalty kicks.
In the extra 30 minutes, the match evened out. The teams had their opportunities. However, both goalkeepers and defenders of both teams performed well. As a result, the winner had to be decided by penalty kicks. The contest began with confident shots from Domenico Berardi and Harry Kane. In the second period, the scales of victory tipped in favour of the English. Jordan Pickford sensed Andrea Belotti’s intentions. But then Marcus Rashford’s mistake saw the Manchester United striker hit just the post, putting the Italians back in the game. Federico Bernardeschi made the most of his “eleven” and moments later he could admire Gianluigi Donnarumma’s display. the goalkeeper first defended Jadon Sancho’s shot and then stopped Bukayo Saka, ensuring Italy’s title of European Champions in 2020 and taking place in 2021 because of pandemi Covi19 . Maybe our big Poland will fight for the World and European Championships very soon . Let’s hope so and the Italians can now enjoy this amazing victory .
Italy – England 1:1 after extra time (1:1, 0:1), penalties 3-2
Goals: 0:1 Luke Shaw (2), 1:1 Leonardo Bonucci (67).
Yellow card – Italy: Nicolo Barella, Leonardo Bonucci, Lorenzo Insigne, Giorgio Chiellini, Jorginho. England: Harry Maguire.
Referee: Bjoern Kuipers (Netherlands). Spectators: 67 173.
Italy: Gianluigi Donnarumma – Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Emerson (118. Alessandro Florenzi) – Nicolo Barella (54. Bryan Cristante), Jorginho, Marco Verratti (96. Manuel Locatelli) – Federico Chiesa (86. Federico Bernardeschi), Ciro Immobile (55. Domenico Berardi), Lorenzo Insigne (91. Andrea Belotti).
England: Jordan Pickford – Kieran Trippier (70. Bukayo Saka), Kyle Walker (120. Jadon Sancho), John Stones, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw – Mason Mount (99. Jack Grealish), Declan Rice (74. Jordan Henderson, 120. Marcus Rashford), Kalvin Phillips, Raheem Sterling – Harry Kane.
