'You all still have to eat a lot of pasta... it's coming Rome!': Leonardo Bonucci taunts England fans who whistled during Italy's national anthem and reveals he and his team-mates were extra motivated after hearing 'It's coming home' all week
Italy talisman Leonardo Bonucci goaded England fans by screaming 'It's coming Rome!' into a TV camera in the aftermath of his country's famous penalty shootout triumph in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley on Sunday night.
The centre back scored the equaliser as the Italians came from behind to take the game to penalties, before coming out on top 3-2 in the shootout, with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all missing for England.
And after the Italians lifted the trophy, 34-year-old Bonucci sent a triumphant message back home that poked fun at England's famous 'It's coming home' chant.
The Juventus defender was angered by England fans booing Italy's national anthem at Wembley and made sure he got his revenge, also saying in the aftermath: 'You all still have to eat a lot of pasta' - seemingly referring to English fans' chant of 'you can stick your twirly pasta up your a***' in the build-up to Sunday night's game.
He continued: 'They wanted to bring the cup back to England but we are the ones who will take it to Rome by plane.'
Italy talisman Leonardo Bonucci goaded England fans in the aftermath of the shootout victory
Bonucci arrived back in Rome alongside the Italy squad as they celebrated their victory
The defender also revealed that hearing 'it's coming home' in the days leading up to Sunday's game made him and his team-mates even more motivated to win.
Asked whether that had played a part, Bonucci said: 'Absolutely. We heard it day in day out ever since Wednesday night since the Denmark game that the cup would be coming home to London.
'Sorry for them but actually the cup will be taking a nice flight to Rome and that way Italians all over the world can savour this competition.
'It is for everyone, we said from day one it was for them and for us.'
Bonucci made it known how irritated he was by the boos during the Italian national anthem before the game too, saying: 'We were strong, louder than the noise of the whistles.
'During the warm-up I said to all my team-mates: let's plug our ears and play as we know how.
'This team hasn't lost in 34 games, we're a fantastic team. It's an absurd enjoyment... we are having fun with this.'
Italy celebrated their first European triumph since 1968 as they arrived back in Rome in the early hours on Monday, while for England the 55-year wait for a victory in a major tournament goes on.
Roberto Mancini lifts the trophy alongside Giorgio Chiellini as Italy arrive back on Monday
Bonucci scored Italy's equaliser from close range as Roberto Mancini's side came roaring back
Italy skipper Chiellini with the European Championship trophy as the winners arrive in Rome
Bonucci, alongside centre-back partner and captain Giorgio Chiellini, kept England skipper Harry Kane mostly quiet in a contest Italy dominated after falling behind to Luke Shaw's early opener.
England boss Gareth Southgate paid tribute to his players after the heartbreaking loss, saying: 'We're playing against a very good side. We got off to the perfect start. Maybe dropped a little bit too deep.
'Sometimes when you score that early it's easy to try and soak up the pressure and try hold onto that and that's probably what happened. They had a lot of the ball, they had a lot of possession but to be fair we looked fairly in control.
'We didn't create too many chances then obviously they got their breakthrough from the set-piece and then after that it was probably a 50/50.
The talismanic Italian defender was in celebratory mood in the early hours on Monday
Bonucci was also named the Star of the Match after a standout performance in the final
Chiellini lifts the trophy aloft at the Parco dei Principi hotel in Rome following Italy's triumph
'In extra-time we grew into the game, had a few half-chances then obviously penalties is penalties. We went through our process. The boys did everything they could, it just wasn't our night. We should be extremely proud as a group of what we've achieved.
'We're all winners and we want to win so it's going to hurt for a while and it'll probably hurt for the rest of our careers but that's football.
'We progressed well from Russia and now it's about continuing that. We've got a great squad with loads of young players hungry for more football like this so that's all we can do.
'Build and learn and hopefully go into next year in a better way.'
'We turned Three Lions into cubs': Gloating Italian press say 'silent Wembley' was made to 'kneel before Italy' and Southgate was 'lucky' to reach the final as they hail their victory
Italian newspapers have hailed their side's victory at last night's Euro final against England - gloating that a 'silent Wembley' was made to 'kneel before Italy'.
'The Three Lions were tamed, we turned them into cubs,' gloated the lead article of Gazzetta dello Sport.
The same newspaper also laid into Gareth Southgate, dubbing him a 'lucky general' who only made it to the final because the tournament was 'built' to favour England.
Recalling Geoff Hurst's 'ghost goal' that helped win the 1966 World Cup, the paper said England had 'few technical merits' and were justly beaten by the better team.
Gazzetta dello Sport ran the headline 'too good' on its front page while hailing Italy's victory over England, bragging from its centre pages that the Three Lions had been 'turned into cubs'
'It's ours!' proclaimed Corriere dello Sport, writing that 'not even the wildest optimists' would have predicted Italy's win when they failed to qualify for the World Cup four years ago
And it was not just the Italian media revelling in England's defeat - back pages in Spain, France and Portugal also hailed the 'new emperors' of Europe in Italy.
'Italy assaults the temple of English football and snatches the Euros', read the headline in Spanish newspaper Marca.
French newspaper L'Equipe branded Italy 'the invincibles' while another Spanish paper, AS, said simply 'bravissima!'
England had been dreaming of their first ever Euro victory at Wembley on Sunday night as Southgate's men - semi finalists at the last World Cup - lined up against an Italian side that had failed to even qualify for that tournament.
And for 65 minutes, it seemed the dream was becoming a reality - Luke Shaw slotting home with England's first attack of the game before the team dug deep and tried to hold the lead.
It was Leonardo Bonucci who brought England back down to earth - jumping on a shot from Marco Verratti that Jordan Pickford had managed to tip on to the post to make it 1-1 on 67 minutes.
Full time came and went along with two halves of extra time with neither side able to score the killing blow, though both had opportunities to do so.
That brought the game down to penalties - England's old nemesis.
Southgate's side has become known for defying history, having beat Colombia in a shootout at the last World Cup and overcome rivals Germany to reach this final.
But it was not to be. Despite heroics from Pickford to deny Belotti and Jorginho, England failed three times from the spot - with substitutes Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka either missing the target or seeing their shots saved.
Italy extended their winning streak against the English - having never lost a knockout game to the Lions - to claim the title and spark wild celebrations.
'It's ours!' proclaimed the front page of Corriere dello Sport. 'Too good!' read Gazzetta dello Sport.
Mocking England's chant of 'it's coming home,' newspaper Repubblica ran the English-language headline 'it's coming Rome'.
Reflecting on the turnaround that Roberto Mancini has overseen - from World Cup dropouts four years ago to European champions - Corriere wrote that 'not even the wildest of optimists would have imagined an epilogue like this.'
The paper continued: 'Those tears of desperation have turned into joy...
Mocking England's chant of 'it's coming home,' Repubblica ran with the English-language headline 'it's coming Rome'
'Europe is ours' proclaimed the website of Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra today
Meanwhile newspaper Il Resto del Carlino was already looking ahead to next year's World Cup and fancying Italy's chances of claiming that trophy
'The last match, with the giants of England, in the Queen's house and inside a hostile stadium, was a wonderful suffering.
'Italy wins because it has more heart and more soul and a temper of steel.'
Gazetta also had a similar reflection: 'Every Italian in these two hours has returned to feel like a giant.
'Years of disappointments have been canceled, the shame of the failure to qualify for the Russian World Cup forgotten.'
Il Messaggero dubbed the match 'the longest night', but said Italy 'deserved' to claim the title having 'silenced' fans who booed their national anthem.
'Italy are European champions,' the paper wrote, while 'England's drought continues'.
French newspaper L'Equipe described the Italian team as 'invincibles' while hailing their win
Spanish newspaper AS ran with the simple headline 'bravissima' - or 'well done'
Spanish paper Marca cheered on the Italians as European champions, saying they had 'assaulted the English temple' and 'snatched the Euros'
|Portuguese newspaper A Bola seemed pleased to crown Italy 'the new emperors' of Europe
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2021-07-12 06:10:50Z
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