“Euro 2020“The last of 51 games on Sunday in London, at Wembley Stadium, will meet Italy and England national football team. Who from Portugal will take over the title of European champion – will Italy become the strongest team on the Old Continent for the second time or will England rise to the throne for the first time, fulfilling the long-cherished dream of “Football coming home”?
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The game at Wembley Stadium will start at 22:00 Latvian time. The portal “Delfi” will offer a live broadcast of the text of the game, during which readers will also be able to choose the brightest star of the final.
The judges of the Euro 2020 final are entrusted to the Dutch judges – the main judge will be Bjern Kuipers, and the assistants Sanders van Rekels and Ervin Zeinstra. The fourth referee of the game will be the Spanish Carlos del Serro Grande, but the functions of VAR will be performed by the German Bastian Dankert. The VAR assistant will be Paul van Beck4els from the Netherlands.
At Wembley Stadium, the game will be watched in person by less than 70,000 fans, who have been approved by the British government, relaxing the existing restrictive regulations of Covid-19. At the start of the tournament, 22,500 fans watched the games at Wembley Stadium, 40,000 in the first rounds of the playoffs, and 75% of the maximum possible 90,000 fans are allowed in the semi-finals and finals.
Before the final, as a small favorite, many experts consider the English to be “running”, and will play at their home in Wembley Stadium. Theoretically, the English national team will play away, because the home team will formally be the Italian national team.
For Italy, these will be the fourth final of the European Championship and the tenth grand final (World Cup or European Championship). In Europe, only Germany has a richer selection of finals. In 1968, in the final of the European Championship in Rome, the Italians defeated Yugoslavia 2: 0, but in this century they had to recognize the superiority of their opponents in the twice-decisive game. In the final in 2000, Italy was still in the lead with France 1-0 in the 90th minute, but in the last seconds of the compensation period, Manville Wilder was equalized. In the extension, the French scored a golden goal David Trezege. In turn, eight years ago in Kiev in the final, the Italians with 0: 4 without options lost to Spain. In the game at the Kiev Olympic Stadium, Italy’s starting lineup included Leonardo Bonuchi and Giorgio Kjelini, who are likely to “cement” Italy’s defense on Sunday.
Before the Euro 2020, the Italians played seven “dry” games in a row, the team did not let the ball into their goal once in the group tournament, but in the playoffs the Italians were beaten only three times. Although Italy’s impressive “dry” series has been interrupted, Italy continues the series of undefeated matches – 27 wins in the last 33 games and seven draws. Italy last felt the bitterness of the loss on 10 September 2018, when UEFA League of Nations within Lisbon lost 0: 1 to Portugal. Italy’s impressive series is reinforced by another fact – in the last 36 games, the ball has never hit the goal more than once. On June 1, 2018, Italy lost to France 1: 3, but this match was only the second for Robert Mancini as head coach.
For England, this is the first final of the European Championship and only the second final in the big tournaments – in 1966, at the old Wembley Stadium, England won the VFR (Federal Republic of Germany) national team with a 4: 2 extension, winning the World Cup. England is the 13th country to reach the European Championship final, followed by Greece and Portugal, which met in the 2004 final (Greece won 1-0). If England wins the final, she will be the 11th country to triumph in the European Championships. As tenth on this list is Portugal, which won five years ago.
The England team lost only one goal on the way to the final, in the semi-final against Denmark. In the 1/8 final, England defeated Germany from the “death group” 2-0 in Wembley, and – no matter how incredible it may sound – it was the first victory for the English in the playoffs of the European Championships since 1996, when Spain was defeated in the quarterfinals after the quarterfinals. Even more paradoxically, England’s 1996 victory was only in the second European Championship finals outside the group tournament. Another is the 1968 2-0 victory in the battle for bronze against the USSR national team.
Statistics speak in favor of England before the final – at the Wembley Stadium, the English have won 13 of the last 15 games, but in the last 27 games they have suffered only two losses. Another fact speaks in favor of Italy: so far, the English have never won the Italians in the European Championship finals: the Italians win three games, but a draw once (and in this draw, which is written in statistics, the Italians won in post-match strokes).
The English and Italian teams met 27 times. Italy have won 10 of these matches, the English have eight victories, but nine games have been tied in regular time or overtime. The last two games – in 2018 and 2015 – ended in a draw 1: 1. The goal gain in these 27 games is similar – the British have 33 goals, the Italians – 31.
Both teams will play in the practically optimal line-up for the final, but the biggest worries are about Italian footballers. Many Italians have suffered various injuries during Euro 2020, but one of the most important regular players Leonardo Spinacola ended the tournament prematurely due to an injury. The injuries have not bothered the English national team yet, but the English head coach Garets Sautgeits during the tournament has varied with the line-up and has not played any game with the same starting line-up as in the previous match.
Preliminary starting lines for Euro 2020 finalists
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