Reax at Wembley as Italy beat England in Euro 2020

Italy won their second Euro Championship title on Sunday when they defeated England in the penalty shoot-out at the Wembley Stadium.

London: It took just a few weeks to undo decades of pessimism for England football fans, persuading millions that the team could defy decades of disappointment and win a major international soccer tournament for the first time since 1966.

For much of Sunday’s final against Italy, it felt like it might.

But when Italy won the European Championship in a 3-2 penalty shootout, following a match that ended 1-1 after extra time, England fans left Wembley Stadium dejected once more.

England’s last victory at a major international soccer tournament was the 1966 World Cup, before the lifetimes of most people in the country. Many fans said that regardless of the outcome, a half-century cloud had been lifted by manager Gareth Southgate’s young and dynamic team.

The team's surprising success at the Euros has been a balm for many in England after decades of dashed hopes, more than a year of pandemic restrictions and more than 128,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the UK.

Even soccer sceptics who associated English fans with drunken boorishness and xenophobia got behind the young, multi-ethnic team whose members took a knee against racism before games, supported LGBT pride, campaigned against poverty - and vanquished longstanding rivals like Germany.

Earlier, thousands of fans without tickets descended on Wembley Stadium, some scrambling up trees and traffic lights to fly the England flag. There were chaotic scenes as security staff and police scuffled with hundreds who tried to storm barriers and enter the stadium.

Wembley officials initially insisted no one without tickets had got inside, but London’s Metropolitan Police said: “a small number” of ticketless fans had entered the 90,000-seat stadium, where capacity was supposed to be limited to a pandemic-restricted 67,000.

Bottles were thrown as fans left Wembley after the game, and police in riot gear stood by.

The Metropolitan Police said 45 people had been arrested across London throughout the day. The force also said it was investigating “offensive and racist" messages on social media directed at some players. Marcus Rashford and Buyako Saka were both subjected to racist abuse after missing penalties.

England's Football Association condemned the abuse and called for “the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.”