Italy vs England

Italy and England go head-to-head in a highly-anticipated Euro 2020 grand final at Wembley.

Following a 1-1 draw in regulation time, Italy went on to overcome Spain via penalties in the semi-finals to set up a mouth-watering showdown against England. Seeking their first continental success since 1968, the Italians head into proceedings carrying underdog status. However, they’ve won each of their four meetings with England at major tournaments, including a penalty shoot-out victory in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals. Roberto Mancini’s men are full of confidence after piecing together a national record of 33 straight internationals without losing and ousting the likes of Belgium and Spain in the Euro 2020 knock-outs. The Italians have been in a free-scoring form at the tournament so far, netting an average of 2.00 goals per match and mustering up a total of 12. If they find the net in the final, Italy will set another national record for the number of goals scored at a single major tournament.

On the other hand, England staged a comeback to claim a 2-1 extra-time victory over Denmark in the semi-finals and extend their unbeaten streak in competitive games at Wembley to 12 games (W11, D1). Defensively robust, the ‘Three Lions’ kept ten clean sheets during that 12-match sequence. Topically, before Mikkel Damsgard’s stunning free-kick last time out, England had gone 480 minutes without conceding at Euro 2020, as they look to become the fifth side to conquer the tournament with a single goal conceded. In fact, the hosts have faced a competition-lowest average of just 2.00 shots per game thus far. Another notable improvement has seen Gareth Southgate’s side go from scoring just twice in three group stage fixtures to racking up eight goals in three knock-out phase matches, extra-time included. Worryingly, though, England have won just two of their last 14 encounters against Italy (D5, L7), with both successes coming in friendly matches.