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'It's coming home - where?' Six things Italy fans had to say ahead of the Euro 2020 final

The Local Italy
The Local Italy - [email protected] • 11 Jul, 2021 Updated Sun 11 Jul 2021 08:14 CEST
'It's coming home - where?' Six things Italy fans had to say ahead of the Euro 2020 final
Italy's supporters wave a banner before the start of the UEFA EURO 2020 semi-final football match between Italy and Spain at Wembley Stadium in London on July 6, 2021. (Photo by Carl Recine / POOL / AFP)

From historical reminders to culinary corrections, here's what Italian football fans have been saying as they gear up for the Euro 2020 final on Sunday.

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Italian pre-match banter can appear overwhelmingly good-natured, especially to people from some other football-mad European countries.

Part of this apparent friendliness though may be down to the tendency of some Italian fans to 'gufare', or to praise opponents before a match in the hope of 'jinxing' them.

Still, Italian fans had a few points they wanted to make to England supporters before the two teams meet at Wembley on Sunday night.

Florence FC questioned which "home" football would be coming to, given that the city's famously rough calcio storico predates the more genteel modern game by several hundred years. 

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Some also pointed out that even England's red-and-white flag of St George's Cross originated nowhere other than... Genoa.

Meanwhile others are less concerned with the score and more with the health of Italy's popular 79-year-old president, Sergio Mattarella, who is expected to join the Italian contingent in Wembley on Sunday night.

With new cases of the Covid Delta variant in the UK climbing into the thousands, the hashtag "President stay at home" began trending on Twitter.

After all, Italy is supposed to keep church and state separate (Chiesa, "Church", being the surname of one of the Azzurri's wingers). 

https://twitter.com/r0b1nvd/status/1413144687553105948?s=20

And former England striker Gary Lineker failed to impress Italian Twitter when he posted a photo of his culinary tribute to Italy on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/footballitalia/status/1413922280565088256

And no doubt Italian fans will have a few more food-related messages for the English before the tournament is over.

https://twitter.com/Pietro_Panarisi/status/1413404820665475072

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#Football #Sport #euro 2020

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