UEFA Euro 2020 Final
England v Italy
Wembley Stadium
London, England
11 July 2021
11 Jul 2021 and England have made it to the final of a major competition for the first time since 30 Jul 1966. On that day 55 years ago the opponents were Germany and the result is part of football folklore. Today's opponents are Manchini's Italy and they do look a good side
The FA secured an initial 8670 tickets to the final for the travel club members, but due to the clamour for the relatively cheap Fans First tickets at 95€ it was necessary to have a decent cap total. On 36 caps and members who didn't return our tickets we were guaranteed. The good news is that we had seats right behind the goal in a plum row.
The opening ceremony was incredible which culminated in the red arrows doing a fly pass. The tension was incredible and the atmosphere was on another level. The attendance was supposed to be set at 60,000 but there was so many more fans, many of whom had jibbed in. The official attendance was 67,173 but I fail to believe that as it looked and felt more like 80,000. Our end was totally rammed.
England 1 Italy 1 (AET) Italy win 3:2 on pens
Attendance: 67173
Pano with the final under way
Eyeties !
First one down that hatch on route to Kings Cross from Grantham
Arriving in the capital on the day of the Euro Final
Outside Kings Cross the atmosphere is brewing
Sex toys, Pyro and beer
No Pyro, no Paarty!
Team Hesketh, lets do this😎
A quick detour up the Jubilee line to Swiss Cottage and the 'Ye Olde Swiss Cottage' for a pint and a pre match meal of liver and onions
Ye Olde Swiss Cottage
After booking into the Best Western at Swiss Cottage we are surprised that it has a piano. I can't resist the temptation
The grounds of the BW are very plush
We again meet up with the boys in the North London Tavern
The pitchers are being belt fed and the Jaegers are coming
Harry the bar man is a top boy
Liam and Sue
Sue and Craig Mac
The Macs and the Heskeths
Zoe, Joanne and Sue
Joanne and Sue
Girls on tour
The Queen of Selfies
At this point we probably all have the Wembley variant, so time to discard the Face Masks
Wembley Way feels a bit different today
WPC 2484 seems to have taken a shine to me
So it is selfie time
Wembley Way as never seen before
Scenes!
England loyal
Always love meeting up with these Sunderland boys
Lawrence has been on the weights💪
Pre loading continues
Locals soaking up the atmosphere
Making friends with the enemy
Bombed by Zoe Mac🥊😂
Bombed by Suzie Sue 💃😂
At last a clean selfie👌
Concourse selfie
Concourse is busy, time to take seats
The new Euro Champions cup weighs a tonne
Let the show begin
Too slow to film the Red Arrows.
The North end (Wembley Way) and Royal Box
South end (towards White Horse Bridge)
An encouraging start for England
Luke Shaw has just scored for England
England are going to need another goal
With nearly an hour on the clock is it time to dream?
Gareth's tactics seem to be playing into Italy's hands. The team is sitting back and still no subs made. It is all Italy as England hold on
Bonucci scores on 67 minutes after Jordan Pickford had turned Marco Verratti's header on to the post and the game is forced into Extra time
Just before the penalties Southgate makes three subs (Rashford, Saka and Sancho). They were subbed to be penalty takers but all missed their penalties, the most horrific pen was Rashford's hop skip and a jump approach which hit the post, the others were on target but weak. The two other players (Kane and Maguire) both scored. Jordan Pickford did heroics in goal with excellent saves from Belotti and Jorginho but the Italians ran out 3:2 winners on pens, with successful pens from Beradi, Bonucci and Bernardeschi. But why oh why did Gareth Southgate make those subs so late on.
Well that's it from the Grantham Rams, the Euros has been a blast and we loved every minute of it. Great football, great memories with great people, see you again for the Qatar qualifiers
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