World Sports
What started on June 11 ends tonight: Italy take on England at Wembley Stadium in London in the final of the 2020 European Championship.
Both sides aim to end long droughts when they meet today.
Gareth Southgate’s England hopes that a partisan home crowd will help them lift a first major trophy since winning the 1966 World Cup at the old Wembley.
Italy has not won the Euros since 1968 and Roberto Mancini’s team has impressed at least as much as England in the tournament held over four weeks in 11 European cities.
The Azzurri are on an unbeaten run of 33 games since September 2018 and have never lost against England at a major event.
Head-to-head record
Played: 27
England wins: 8
Draws: 8
Italy wins: 11This is Italy’s 10th major final (six World Cups and four Euros), with only Germany (14) having played more among the European nations.
This will be England’s first appearance in a Euro final and their first in the final of a major tournament since winning the 1966 World Cup.
Italy has never lost against England at a major tournament.
Best team of the tournament?
Italy has been arguably the team of the tournament, sweeping through the group stage with a perfect record before knocking out Austria, top-ranked Belgium, and Spain to reach the final.
60,000 fans allowed for this match
The British government is allowing 60,000 fans to attend the game but only 1,000 can travel from Italy under strict coronavirus rules in a strict bubble and allowed to stay only 12 hours.
Another 6,500 tickets have gone to Italian fans living in the United Kingdom.
