Italy has defeated England to win the European Championship after a 1-1 tie game was decided by penalty kicks.
Italy rallied back after England took a quick 1-0 lead off the boot of Luke Shaw, who scored the quickest goal in European Championship final history, 1 minute and 57 seconds into the match.
Shaw's goal was the fifth fastest ever scored in the history of the tournament and the third fastest at Euro 2020. The previous fastest goal scored in a European Championship final was in 1964 when Chus Pereda scored for Spain 5:17 into the match against the Soviet Union. Spain won 2-1.
England was up 1-0 over Italy at halftime in after Shaw's quick goal, but Italy tied up the game in the 67th minute with Leonardo Bonucci's key goal.
Domenico Berardi, Leonardo Bonucci and Federico Bernardeschi scored for Italy in the shootout and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made two saves at the end of the shootout. The final shootout score was 3-2.
The Italian team dashed England's hopes of ending its 55-year major title drought after last winning the World Cup in 1966. England has never won the Euro Cup.
England played in its first major final in over five decades; this final is the latest heartache in shootouts at major tournaments, after defeats in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2012.
Saka, a 19-year-old Londoner, was embraced by several England players after his miss. England coach Gareth Southgate hugged Jadon Sancho, who missed the previous England penalty, while Marcus Rashford — the other one to miss — walked off down the tunnel.
Sancho and Rashford had been brought on in the final minute of extra time, seemingly as specialist penalty takers.
Donnarumma was in tears as he was embraced by his teammates as they sprinted toward him from the halfway line, where they watched the second penalty shootout in a European Championship final.
They then headed to the other end of the field and ran as one, diving to the ground in front of their own fans.
It was Italy’s second continental title after 1968, to add to the country’s four World Cups.
The game was watched by thousands in the stadium, including some royal fans in Prince William, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince George, who attended the game at Wembley, and and millions of fans across the globe.
Queen Elizabeth II praised the “spirit, commitment and pride” of the England soccer team on Saturday, one day before the game.
The queen reminisced in a letter to England coach Gareth Southgate about the national team’s only previous outing in the final of a major competition. Her Majesty that in 1966 she was “fortunate” to present the World Cup to then-England captain Bobby Moore and “saw what it meant to the players, management and support staff to reach and win the final of a major international football tournament.”
The 95-year-old monarch says she wanted to send her and her family’s “good wishes for tomorrow with the hope that history will record not only your success but also the spirit, commitment and pride with which you have conducted yourselves.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also sent his best wishes to the “incredible” England soccer team, praising the team’s “amazing performance” at Euro 2020 in a letter addressed to Southgate and the players.
He wrote that England has “already made history” by making the final of a major international competition. Sunday’s final at Wembley Stadium is the first one England has contested since winning the 1966 World Cup.
The buildup to the game was not without some drama. Fans without tickets stormed past security and gained access to the European Championship final game.
Fans could be seen standing in the Wembley Stadium bowl unable to access their seats.
“There was a breach of security and a small group of people got into the stadium,” Wembley Stadium said in a statement.
Wembley said officials are working with stewards and security to remove the ticketless fans.
“Anyone inside the stadium without a ticket will be instantly ejected,” Wembley said.
An earlier Wembley statement said that fans tried to get into the stadium through a low barrier, but that stewards and police were able to hold them back back as they pushed through.
The first statement said “safety measures were quickly activated in the relevant areas and there were no security breaches of people without tickets getting inside the stadium.”
The 90,000-seat Wembley has a pandemic-restricted capacity of about 67,000.
That the match went to extra time — like three of the six European finals before it — was not unexpected, given both semifinals also went the distance and the defensive solidity of both the teams.
In fact, Italy’s famously robust defense was only really opened up once in the entire 90 minutes and that resulted in Shaw’s goal, a half-volley that went in off the near post from Kieran Trippier’s cross.
It was Shaw’s first goal for England and it prompted a fist-pump between David Beckham and Tom Cruise in the VIP box amid an explosion of joy around Wembley.
The fact that it was set up by Trippier, a full back recalled to the team as part of a change of system to a 3-4-3 for the final, would have brought extra satisfaction to Southgate.
Then, England barely saw the ball for the rest of the game.
Italy’s midfielders dominated possession, started playing their pretty passing routines and England resorted to getting nine or even all 10 outfield players behind the ball. It was reminiscent of the 2018 World Cup semifinals, when England also scored early against Croatia then spent most of the game chasing its opponent’s midfield.
Initially, the Italians could only muster long-range efforts but the equalizer arrived from much closer in.
A right-wing corner was flicked on at the near post, Marco Verratti had a stooping header tipped onto the post by Pickford, and Bonucci put the ball in from close range.
Still, England managed to hold on for extra time and actually had the better of the final stages.
Just not the shootout, again.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.