Infographic: Italy-England history and road to Euro 2020 final

Visualising how Italy and England beat 22 other teams in the race for the Euro 2020 final.

When: July 11, 2021
Where: Wembley Stadium, London
Kick-off: 19:00 GMT

Italy take on England in the final of the 2020 European Championship on Sunday.

Up to 60,000 fans are expected to pack London’s Wembley Stadium to see England in their maiden Euro final appearance.

Italy, who won the tournament in 1968, have gone from missing out on the 2018 World Cup to making it to the final for the fourth time in history.

It comes on the back of an astonishing run of 33 matches unbeaten.

The European Championship is the second-most-watched football tournament in the world after the football World Cup, with the 2016 continental tournament attracting more than two billion TV viewers, according to UEFA.

Italy vs England, the history

England and Italy last met in a friendly 1-1 draw in March 2018.

The two sides have an 82-year-long rivalry with their first match, a 1-1 draw, taking place in Rome in 1933.

England dominated for the next four decades, not losing a single match out of six against the Italians until 1973 when they lost 2-0 at Stadio Comunale in Turin.

During the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the hosts won 2-1 in the third-place play-off.

The last time the two nations played in a European Championship was in 2012 when Italy beat England 4-2 on penalties.

Unbeaten run

Both sides have yet to lose a game in this edition of the tournament.

In the last-16, England beat Germany 2-0, while Italy defeated Austria 2-1.

While England thrashed Ukraine 4-0 to reach the semis, Italy had a closer game, beating top-ranked Belgium 2-1.

During the semi-final against Denmark, England’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford broke his country’s 55-year record of 720 minutes without conceding a goal … just a few minutes before England conceded the first goal of the tournament,

England won 2-1, courtesy an own-goal and a controversial penalty, breaking Denmark’s hearts after they had reached the last four despite losing the opening two games and midfielder Christian Ericksen who suffered cardiac arrest.

Italy’s semi-final match against Spain went to penalties which the former won 4-2.

UEFA Euro 2020 football infographic Italy England

Italy eye second trophy, England first

The last time Italy won the tournament was in 1968. England will be playing their first European Championship final.

The European Championship was first held in France in 1960. It was set up as a knockout competition with only the top four teams making it to the main event.

Over the years, the number of participating teams grew from four in 1960, eight in 1980, 16 in 1996 to 24 in 2016.

For the first time in its history, the tournament was played in 11 cities across Europe.

Spain and Germany have each won three Euros each.

Source: Al Jazeera

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