To home or Rome? England and Italy meet in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley tonight
To hear Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini talk about going all the way shows how pressure to win a trophy for your country can be an enduring motivation for yourself and the squad, especially in the twilight of a career. “Maybe at 36 you feel it more,” Chiellini said, “because you understand more how hard it is and the work that goes into it.”
The European Championship final on Sunday pits England, which hasn’t even reached a final since winning the 1966 World Cup, against one of the continent’s most decorated teams.
The last of Italy’s four World Cup victories came in 2006, when Chiellini had already made his international debut but didn’t play at the tournament. But the team is a comparative underachiever in the European Championship with its only title in 1968.
Italy, however, has already reached the final twice in recent years — in 2000 and 2012 — whereas England hasn’t got close until now.
With the pandemic restricting travel to London, the permitted crowd of 66,000 at Wembley Stadium will be largely packed with England fans for the national team’s greatest soccer moment since 1966, when coach Gareth Southgate wasn’t even born.
