It Went Rome; Italy beat England 3-2 on penalties (1-1 AET) to win Euro 2020

 

It Went Rome!! On Sunday night at a jam packed Wembley Stadium in London, Italy defeated England 3-2 on penalties (1-1 AET) to win the Euro 2020. This victory marked a first piece of major international honour for Italy since 2006 World Cup. England's wait for a major trophy goes on.

England got the start they could have dreamt off. A quick break from an Italian corner saw England move the ball from the left to right. Kieran Trippier swinged in a corner which was met by Luke Shaw. The Manchester United left back, hitted it first time to fire it home past Donnarumma inside 117 seconds (01:57).

What a time to score his first international goal. Indeed Luke Shaw's opener turned out to be the fastest goal scored in a European Championship Final surpassing Jesus Pereda' strike for Spain Vs Soviet Union (05:04) in the 1964 Final.

Italy had few half chances in the first half with Federico Chiesa drilling an effort just wide and Ciro Immobile's shot being blocked by John Stones.

Chiesa was then denied by great save by Jordan Pickford just at the hour mark.

Italy's patient payed off as Veteran Centre Back Leonardo Bonucci tapped the ball in from a close range after Marco Verratti's effort was saved by Pickford in the 67th minute following a great corner move to make it 1-1.

There were no more goals in regulation time as the match went into extra time. Italy overcame Spain 4-2 on penalties in the Semis while England scored in the first half of extra time to win 2-1 against Denmark.

In 90 minutes, England managed 4 shots with 2 on target while Italy had 14 shots with 7 being on target. Italy also dominated in possession wise with The Azzurri managed a staggering 67.4 % possession compared to England 32.6 % indicating who the better side had been.

Extra time failed to separate both as the score remained 1-1 as the time for the dreaded penalty shootout was upon us.

Domenico Berardi went first for Italy and converted cooly. Harry Kane went first for England and made it 1-1.

Andrea Belotti was then denied by Jordan Pickford as the England keeper guessed right and made the save. Harry Maguire then made it 2-1. Bonucci levelled it up at 2-2.

Marcus Rashford took England's third penalty and missed it as his effort smacked the post and went out. Bernardeschi then made it 3-2. Jadon Sancho then missed his penalty as well as his effort was saved by Donnarumma.

Jorginho then had the golden chance to win it but Pickford came out on top and saved it to give England the hope. However Bukayo Saka's penalty was saved by Donnarumma as well as Italy won the shootout 3-2 and won the Euros.



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