Mancini happy for Italians everywhere after delivering Euro 2020 title
Italy coach Roberto Mancini was happy to give joy to Italians all around the world after a difficult year by winning the Euro 2020 title for them.
It’s not coming home after all: England lose on penalties after 1-1 draw with Italy in the EURO 2020 final.
It wasn’t exactly a promising start for England when Harry Maguire simply passed a ball out of bounds for a corner inside the first minute, but not sixty seconds later, England were already ahead, with Luke Shaw starting and finishing a move for his first international goal.
Harry Kane’s switch and Kieran Trippier’s cross were both perfect, as was Shaw’s timing his shot on the short bounce that skimmed off the ground and kissed the inside of the near post to take it past a helpless Donnarumma.
Given a lead to protect, England comfortably saw out the first 45 minutes, though Italy did grow into proceedings once England dialed down the intensity a bit around the half-hour mark. Unfortunately for the Azzurri, many of their most promising attacks seemed to end up involving Emerson, which then made them not so promising in short order.
The Three Lions set out to do more of the same in the second half, but that proved to be a tall order. Italy not only dominated possession but slowly ratcheted up the pressure — adding more mobility to their attack; Chiesa switching to the left flank was especially problem — and eventually found an equalizer from a corner, which Leonardo Bonucci scrambled home after Verratti hit the post with a header.
Italy were rampant after the equaliser, but England survived and even threatened a couple times before the end of the 90. Still, neither side would find a second goal, and extra time beckoned. An attritional 30 minutes produced no goals, and to penalties we went.
In the penalties, England scored their first two but failed to convert on the last three, which was enough despite Jorginho missing his chance to win it. The Chelsea man played the full 120, most of it on one leg after suffered a knee injury in the first half.
