LONDON - The old guard, once again, came good for Italy, this time steering the Azzurri to Euro 2020 glory, but wily defensive stalwarts Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini cannot go on forever.

One experienced defensive head is guaranteed to remain, however, to guide an exciting Italy team into the future, despite still being a boy himself. The unflappable Gianluigi Donnarumma is almost certainly going to go on to break all kinds of appearance records at club and international level.

LONDON - Black players in the England soccer team have been subjected to a storm of online racist abuse after their defeat in the final of Euro 2020, drawing wide condemnation from the squad's manager Gareth Southgate along with royalty and politicians.

Marcus Rashford, 23, Jadon Sancho, 21, and Bukayo Saka, 19, were the targets of the abuse after they missed spot-kicks in a penalty shootout with Italy which settled Sunday's final after the game finished as a 1-1 draw.

Surrounded by a reported 200,000 raucous fans in the Wembley area (and far more than the stated 60,000 inside the ground), Italy played spoiler in the Euro 2020 final at a level unseen since the Spartans pushed back the Persians at the Hot Gates.

"Inglaterra realmente juega un fútbol increíblemente asustado. Si eso es lo que hacen con el plantel que tienen, creo que es miserable". La frase la dijo el ex-futbolista neerlandés, Pierre van Hooijdonk, en la previa de la final de la Euro entre los Tres Leones e Italia y ahora vuelven a resonar, luego de que los ingleses comenzaran ganando la definición, pero terminarán con el corazón roto al caer en los penales ante la Azzurra.

The consensus among many was that Gareth Southgate had been too cautious with his starting lineup against Italy on Sunday in the Euro 2020 final. The England manager made one change from the semifinal, bringing in Kieran Trippier and adopting a back-five while winger Bukayo Saka dropped to the bench.

Steve McManaman called it a mistake on ESPN during the pregame show. It took all of one minute and 57 seconds to see that McManaman had been mistaken.

Hungary has been ordered to play its next two games behind closed doors after it was sanctioned for discriminatory behavior by fans during European Championship matches in Budapest, European soccer's governing body UEFA said on Friday.

The incidents occurred during Hungary's group-stage matches against Portugal, France and Germany, all hosted at the Puskás Arena.