Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini has finally broken his silence after dragging Bukayo Saka to the floor in the Euro 2020 final.
With the match level at 1-1, Arsenal winger Saka looked to have broken free from his marker down the right and was set to drive down the channel. However, Chiellini had other ideas.
The Juventus defender, who has departed the club this summer, grabbed Saka’s shirt and seemingly pulled him down by his neck. Of course, Italy then went on to win the match on penalties – with Saka amongst the three England players that failed to convert from the spot.
Chiellini’s foul was one of the most memorable moments of the final, with Saka certain to great a significant opening if he was brought down. And the 37-year-old has finally commented on the incident.
He said: “This became the symbol of Euro 2020 as a whole. The most heavily used meme of summer 2021. It was probably one of the only mistakes I made during the Euros.
"It was in the 90th minute and I'd read the flight of the ball, thinking I could shepherd it out of play when really I could have controlled it. But I was convinced I could put my body between Saka and the ball and let it go out of play, but he wriggled round me."
The nine-time Serie A winner, who has been linked with a move to America this summer, then laughed: “When he wriggled round from behind and had that space to run into my reaction was to grab him. And I grabbed him good!"
The grin on the face of Chiellini as he recalled his cynical foul will certainly infuriate plenty of England fans, in what was the most significant ‘what could have been’ moment in the Three Lions’ recent history. Though they will take joy in the fact that they will be competing at the Qatar World Cup this summer, with Italy failing to qualify following a shock defeat to North Macedonia in the qualifiers.
Though England will be hoping that their players will improve between now and the start of the winter tournament following three underwhelming matches recently. Gareth Southgate’s side are bottom of their Nations League group following a defeat to Hungary and draws with Germany and Italy – with all three displays looking slow, lethargic and lacking a spark.
Speaking ahead of England’s match against Hungary on Tuesday, where they will be seeking revenge, Southgate said: “ This has been a difficult series of games. You have two away games and you can see with Hungary how difficult they are to play against with their result against Germany tonight, then to go to Munich and then we have the advantage we don’t have the advantage because we have no crowd. That has been tough for the players because physically and psychologically that is tough. A stadium like this means the crowd can get right behind you, so yeah we are looking forward to a full crowd on Tuesday.”
