England, oh England

It is the morning after the night before, and this is not how it was supposed to be. There is deep gloom. England’s showdown with Italy went wrong. Football is not, it turns out, coming home. 

It ended horribly, with 19 year-old Bukayo Saka in tears after he missed the crucial final penalty, making Italy the victors in Euro 2020.

The nation was at a standstill for the Three Lions’ biggest match in 55 years, with 60,000 fans at Wembley and many more gathered in pubs, fan zones and homes across the country.

In the game itself, England made the brighter start, with Luke Shaw’s first international goal hitting the back of the net after a record-breaking one minute and 57 seconds. But Italy were strong, with a better gameplan, playing their way back to dominance.

After extra time finished with the score still a goal apiece, Marcus Rashford, 23, and Jadon Sancho, 21, both missed from the spot before Saka’s effort, the crucial fifth for England, was saved by Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

England manager Gareth Southgate, who famously missed the decisive penalty in the 1996 semi-final shootout defeat to Germany, consoled Sancho, Rashford and Saka and took full responsibility for choosing them ahead of seasoned stars.

Southgate said: “I decided on the penalty takers based on what we’ve done in training… Nobody is on their own. That’s my call and it totally rests on me.”

He said England’s players were “exceptional” and “have done themselves proud”.

Many England fans, media commentators and politicians praised Southgate’s players for their heroic performance on the pitch and uniting the country during a pandemic .

Prince William said the players could be “so proud” of themselves, and Boris Johnson said the squad had “done the nation proud”.

However, the event was tainted by ugly behaviour from a minority of England fans both before and after the match. Around two hours before kickoff, hundreds of fans charged security at Wembley to try to enter the ground, with video clips showing fans fighting each other and officials. So far 49 people have been arrested by Met Police and 19 officers were injured.

Police in London also said they will be investigating racist and abusive social media posts after a torrent of appalling abuse was directed at Rashford, Sancho and Saka minutes after the final score.

The FA said it was appalled by the online racism aimed at some players on social media, while Boris Johnson said the England team “deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media”. The PM said those responsible for the appalling abuse should be “ashamed of themselves”.

Despite the heartbreak and hurt of last night’s loss, the young England team rallied to look forward to their bright future together.

Harry Kane, the England captain, said he told the team to hold their heads up high after the match, saying: “We win together we lose together, that’s part and parcel of our game.”

He said: “It’s going to hurt for a while, but we’re on the right track and we’re building and hopefully we can progress from this next year.”

England midfielder Jordan Henderson said he was “really proud” of his team and urged them to use the Euro 2020 loss as World Cup motivation. He said: “What we have created this tournament is something really special and hopefully we can bounce back from this. I’m sure we will have Qatar coming up in 16 months, we are in good shape, what we have created is really special.”