UEFA 2020 Final: Italy versus England – 11 July 2021

Posted on by

England first played Italy in a friendly match in 1933 that resulted in a 1-1 draw. However, the relationship and cross fertilisation of football between these two old footballing nations goes back much further.

In 1903 Italian club Juventus, known as ‘i bianconeri’ (the black and whites) got inspiration for their famous shirts from English club Notts County. Also, the English word ‘Mister’ is often used in Italy to refer to the club manager due to the influence of Englishmen on the Italian game. The following link relates to the first ‘Il mister’ of Italian club football, William Garbutt who served both Genoa CFC and SSC Napoli https://gentlemanultra.com/2016/10/06/william-garbutt-italys-first-mister/

Italians have since returned the favour and served as managers in English club football and Fabio Capello was manager of the English national team. There will undoubtedly be further cooperation between Italian and English footballing traditions long after tonight’s game.

In terms of the history of the European Championship, England have never won it, and Italy have won it only once in 1968. Tonight’s match is only the second time England have appeared in the final of any major international tournament. The one and only time of course was the famous World Cup final against West Germany in 1966. The occasion is shown in the following film:

The length of time since England’s last appearance in a final means that the current match is absolutely massive event in modern English cultural history. You could see this in the reaction of the player’s as they emotionally sung Neil Diamond’s song ‘Sweet Caroline’ after they had secured their place in the final.

Whatever the result of tonight’s game the English football team have achieved something that they have not experienced in over half a century. It will hopefully be a memorable game.

—-

England fans on their way to Wembley:

A potential theme tune for the evening from ‘The Italian Job’:

Those familiar with the film will remember that the ending scene of The Italian Job left everything in doubt as to who had ‘won’.

—-

UPDATE: The winners of this game were Italy who won 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw 😦

Italian celebrations: