Italy great Alessandro Altobelli hailed their Euro 2020 winners – and enjoyed a swipe at England – after Sunday’s Euro 2020 final shootout victory.
The former centre-forward was happy for his country.
“It’s joyful winning at Wembley against England,” Altobelli told RAI Sport. “Who always think they are the best, the greatest, the most talented, the most beautiful.
“And yet if you look in their trophy cabinet there’s one rusty cup from 1966! Go look at our trophy cabinet, it’s packed!”
Gareth Southgate took full responsibility for England’s failure from the penalty kicks spot as Italy secured Euro 2020 glory at Wembley on Sunday.
Following a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes, after Leonardo Bonucci had cancelled out Luke Shaw’s second-minute opener, it was a familiar spot-kick outcome for the Three Lions.
Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all missed from the penalty kicks spot, with Jordan Pickford saving two Italian penalty kicks.
“We prepared as well as we could for that and that’s my responsibility, I chose the guys to take the kicks,” Southgate said.
“No-one is on their own in that situation. We decided to make the changes right at the end of the game and we win and lose together as a team.”
On selecting Saka to take the fifth penalty kick and also making very late substitutions to get more takers on, Southgate added: “That’s my decision to give him that penalty kick.
“So, it is totally my responsibility. It is not him, Marcus or Jadon.
“We worked on it in training and that’s the order we came to. (It’s) my call as coach.
“It is always the risk you run but they have been by far the best and to get all those attacking players on you have to do it late.
“It was a gamble but if we gambled earlier we may have lost the game in extra-time any way.”
Captain Harry Kane was proud of the effort of the team.
He said: “The players couldn’t have given more. Penalty kicks obviously are the worst thing in the world when you lose. It wasn’t our night.
“But it’s been a fantastic tournament and we should be proud, hold our heads up high.
“Of course it’s going to hurt for a while but we are on the right track and hopefully we can progress from this next year.”
Kane offered words of encouragement for the three players who missed penalty kicks in the shoot-out.
“You have got to hold your heads up high. It’s been a fantastic tournament.
“Anyone can miss a penalty kick. We win together, we lose together. We will learn and these boys will grow from it.
“It will give us more motivation to do well in the FIFA World Cup next year.
“We should be extremely proud of what we have achieved. It will probably hurt for the rest of our careers, but that is football.
“We have progressed well from Russia (2018 FIFA World Cup). Now it is about continuing. We have a great squad with loads of good young players.”
Former Italy coach Antonio Conte has spied two key weaknesses in England’s XI ahead of the final of Euro 2020.
Conte also highlighted two areas in which he thinks England could be vulnerable on Sunday, however, with Gareth Southgate’s midfield and defence coming under scrutiny.
“In the middle of the park they have two very physical midfielders in [Declan] Rice and [Kalvin] Phillips, capable players who bring balance but very few vertical passes, often going for the easiest option,” former Chelsea boss Conte wrote for Gazzetta dello Sport.
“One of England’s weak spots is that, if their defence is pressed when building from the back, they aren’t as good as Spain at escaping their opponents’ press. But if you go after them with ultra-offensive pressing and they do escape, then watch out for their pace up front.
“Again, this is when the [Italy] players must show their experience at reading the various moments of the game.”
Three Italian journalists covering their country’s national team at Euro 2020 have tested positive for the coronavirus, two days before Italy take on England in the final at Wembley.
As a result a scheduled press conference with defender Leonardo Bonucci took place only digitally at the team’s training camp in Florence.
Media reports said the three were a reporter and two TV technicians from the Italian public broadcaster RAI.
Italy are operating with a strict hygiene concept as part of the Euros and are set to return to London on Saturday.
England players will donate their prize money to the National Health Service (NHS) if they win the Euro 2020 title on Sunday, according to multiple local news reports.
The reports on Friday said the team would receive around 9.6 million pounds (13.2 million dollars) for a victory against Italy in the decider.
England players started donating match fees to the NHS last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The reports said the issue was not finalised as some details such as tax implications must still be solved.
Tottenham midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was left frustrated with the manner of Denmark’s Euro 2020 semifinal defeat to England.
The Danes lost 2-1 thanks to a controversial penalty in extra-time.
Hojbjerg later said: “What is there to say after this round? Not much has been said. There has been a bit of a look at the penalty kick that might have been.
“When I stood next to him (Raheem Sterling), I did not think there is a penalty kick, because I thought the ball was pushed, and then he fell before there was contact.
“But it all happened quickly, so I may be wrong now. It annoys me that many say that it may not have been there and that VAR is not taking over.
“I can not comment on something I have not seen, but I hope the ref does the right thing. That’s why we have him and VAR.
“From now on, maybe you should let the ref go in front of a microphone or a camera so they can speak. If there is no VAR on, errors can occur, but when there is a VAR, they must be allowed to stand here afterwards.
“How do they feel? What were they thinking? What was their view on it all? It is easy as a player to have to answer one thing and another and not have to comment, but sometimes you would like to hear from the referee himself what he thought.
“I’m not angry, but it puts things in perspective a bit. I generally think that the level of refereeing has been really nice and really high, so that way I do not complain.”
England battled back from a goal down to beat Denmark after extra time on a truly memorable night at Wembley and reach a first major men’s tournament final since 1966.
Captain Harry Kane’s 105th minute goal, after Kasper Schmeichel had saved his penalty, secured the Three Lions a place in the Euro 2020 final against Italy on Sunday.
Mikkel Damsgaard had stunned England fans in the 60,000 crowd by putting the Danes ahead with a sumptuous free-kick – the first goal Gareth Southgate’s side had conceded at Euro 2020.
Denmark keeper Schmeichel denied Raheem Sterling from close range before England equalised when captain Simon Kjaer put past his own keeper trying to stop Sterling from connecting with Bukayo Saka’s low cross.
On a night of huge excitement and tension, Schmeichel then produced a full-stretch save to keep out Harry Maguire’s header and he also denied Kane and substitute Jack Grealish before Kane’s winner.
It is the first time England have reached the European Championship final.
Kane’s goal means the Tottenham forward has equalled Gary Lineker’s long-standing record of 10 goals for England at major tournaments.
England captain Harry Kane is warning Denmark that he is approaching his best form.
The Tottenham striker started slowly at Euro 2020, failing to score in the group stages.
He has three goals in two knockout stage matches, netting against Germany and twice against Ukraine.
Now England take on the Danes at Wembley on Wednesday for a spot in Sunday’s showpiece final at the same venue.
Asked about his form, Kane said: “To be honest, probably not. My game understanding, in terms of what I need to do to not just help myself but also the team, is probably at its best in my career so far.
“It is not a problem. If you try to stop me that’s OK because we have got other players who are just as good, who are going to cause problems. It is not the case where you stop me and you stop us as a team. We have plenty of threats, plenty of options, plenty of different ways of playing.
“From my point of view it is just assessing that on the pitch, seeing what formation they are playing and setting up and just trying to adapt my game to that. I feel like when I’m playing at my best I can score goals or provide assists against anyone.”
Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was emotional after his penalty shootout heroics against Spain.
Donnarumma saved Alvaro Morata’s penalty to send Spain into the final of Euro 2020.
“There was everything at that moment, it wasn’t easy, but with the strength of this group, we managed to get there,” new PSG signing Donnarumma told Sky Italia.
“It’s impossible to describe what I am feeling, I want to enjoy this win my teammates and we dedicate the win to Spinazzola, he had sent us a video before the game.”
But how had he studied Spain’s penalty kick takers?
“We look at everything with the goalkeeper coaches, and then there is a bit of instinct too, I looked at everything during the game and the moment before the penalty. Sirigu spoke to me before the shootout, but I can’t say what he told me, he is a top guy and a great person.”
“It’s indescribable. I was relaxed, because I knew I could help the team,” he added in another interview with RAI Sport.
“The team was fantastic, I thank everyone, the people in the stands, we gave our all and now we need one final step to make our dream come true.
“Spain are very strong, but this Italy has a huge heart, we never give up and we saw that, because we suffered to the end and we snatched it, but Spain deserve a lot of credit for causing us so many problems.”
Italy beat Spain on penalties to reach the Euro 2020 final after an enthralling semi-final at a noisy Wembley.
After Alvaro Morata’s penalty was saved, Jorginho strolled up to score and set up a final with either England or Denmark in London on Sunday.
Federico Chiesa looked as if he had sent Italy – who are unbeaten in 33 games – to the final in normal time with a delightful curled finish to cap off a quick counter.
But Morata stepped off the bench to slot an equaliser with 10 minutes to go after a one-two with Dani Olmo.
But the Juventus forward’s penalty miss in the shootout proved costly as Spain lost a semi-final for the first time in their history.
Fears about an empty or quiet crowd proved unfounded despite tickets still being on sale during the day, and with fans unable to fly from either country without quarantining for too long to watch the game.