July 12, 2021 4:09 pm
On 11 July, Italy won the European football championships by beating England 4 to 3 on penalties at the London stadium of Wembley. Regular time ended 1-1 after Luke Shaw’s English opening goal and Leonardo Bonucci’s draw in the second half. The Italian national team has returned to win the continental tournament after 53 years, a feat that England has never achieved so far, which among other things has once again surrendered to Italy on penalties after the quarter-finals at the 2012 European Championships. The English disappointment is accentuated by the fact that this time the national football team was really one step away from victory.
“Tears for the heroes”, headlines the newspaper The Independent, while The Times writes on the front page: “The curse of penalties denies England its dream”. The Daily Telegraph headline: “Final Agony. Again the agony of penalty kicks ”. Both use the photo of England manager Gareth Southgate as he consoles Bukayo Saka, who missed the decisive penalty. Same image for the front page of the newspaper The Guardian, which headlines: “So close”. “It was almost done, we were about to savor its sweetness. But, let’s not forget, it was sweet all the same, ”writes Barney Ronay, the head of the British newspaper’s sports editorial team. “Italy deservedly won, it’s a good team that played fun football and was good at making up for the initial disadvantage.” For England, Barney concludes, however, there is not only the disappointment for the only final in an international tournament reached by the national football team in 55 years (after the one won at the 1966 World Cup against Germany). While the defeats of past years have been greeted with anger, recriminations and tears, the latter at least gives hope that “it is not the end”, but the beginning of a cycle for a young national team.
Finally, those who have particularly cheered for Italy is Scotland, where on 10 July The National, a newspaper close to the Scottish separatists, featured a photomontage depicting Roberto Mancini, the technical commissioner of the Italian national team, in the role of Braveheart (from the 1995 film with Mel Gibson), writing: “Roberto save us. You are our last hope. We could not bear to have it for another 55 years ”(that is, from England’s last and only victory to an international tournament, the 1966 World Cup). The provocation of the Scottish newspaper sparked a lot of irony but also a lot of criticism.
The final of the Europeans is present on the front pages of the newspapers of all the countries of the continent. The German newspaper Southgerman newspaper has the photo on the front page of Gianluigi Donnarumma, the goalkeeper of the Italian national team, celebrated by his teammates after having saved the decisive penalty of the Englishman Bukayo Saka. “Away victory”, writes the Bavarian newspaper, underlining that the final took place in London in front of about sixty thousand spectators, almost all English.
“Italy champion of Europe on penalties. Roberto Mancini’s team withstood England’s assault at Wembley in front of their audience, ”writes the Spanish daily The country below a photo of the Azzurri celebrating in front of a dejected Jordan Pickford, the England goalkeeper. “The national team wins the European championships with a sparkling and offensive match, which confirms the great mood of the country after years of sporting failures and political turbulence”. “Life is beautiful” is the headline of the Belgian newspaper The evening, who comments: “Italy won at the end of an exciting series of penalties and after a very hard-fought match”.
“Italian Renaissance” is instead the title of The world, who also mentions the possible health consequences of these Europeans who have seen the public return to the stands: “For England the party is over. Of this defeat there are also the images of the spectators who try to enter without a ticket and the possible consequences for the health of these leagues played, except for one match, at home with the delta variant ”.
“Italy celebrates its new blue miracle”, headlines the Swiss daily Daily indicator. “Three years ago the Italian national football team seemed over. Today he is European champion after an exciting series of penalties against England. A perfect ending to a tournament which among other things showed how many people want to return to normal life after the pandemic ”.
“Your home is… London,” he writes Phoston Sport, one of the main sports newspapers in Greece, alluding to “Football is coming home”, the verse of a song dedicated to the English national team. In this case, Wembley, the temple of English football, has become the home of Italy.
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