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‘It’s coming home – where?’ Six things Italy fans had to say ahead of the Euro 2020 final

From historical reminders to culinary corrections, here's what Italian football fans have been saying as they gear up for the Euro 2020 final on Sunday.

Published: 11 July 2021 08:14 CEST
'It's coming home - where?' Six things Italy fans had to say ahead of the Euro 2020 final
Photo: Carl Recine/POOL/AFP

Italian pre-match banter can appear overwhelmingly good-natured, especially to people from some other football-mad European countries.

Part of this apparent friendliness though may be down to the tendency of some Italian fans to ‘gufare‘, or to praise opponents before a match in the hope of ‘jinxing’ them.

Still, Italian fans had a few points they wanted to make to England supporters before the two teams meet at Wembley on Sunday night.

Florence FC questioned which “home” football would be coming to, given that the city’s famously rough calcio storico predates the more genteel modern game by several hundred years. 

Some also pointed out that even England’s red-and-white flag of St George’s Cross originated nowhere other than… Genoa.

Meanwhile others are less concerned with the score and more with the health of Italy’s popular 79-year-old president, Sergio Mattarella, who is expected to join the Italian contingent in Wembley on Sunday night.

With new cases of the Covid Delta variant in the UK climbing into the thousands, the hashtag “President stay at home” began trending on Twitter.

After all, Italy is supposed to keep church and state separate (Chiesa, “Church”, being the surname of one of the Azzurri’s wingers). 

And former England striker Gary Lineker failed to impress Italian Twitter when he posted a photo of his culinary tribute to Italy on Saturday.

And no doubt Italian fans will have a few more food-related messages for the English before the tournament is over.

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

Published: 4 March 2024 13:41 CET
VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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