In the end he over-thought it, did England manager Gareth Southgate. And what a strange and sad irony, that such a relatively cerebral sporting leader should do so.

With just two minutes of extra time remaining in what had been a mesmerising and technically and tactically fascinating final of the 2020 Euros played at Wembley Stadium in London last Sunday, Southgate gambled.

He withdrew a defensive midfielder who had himself come on as a substitute towards the end of normal time (Jordan Henderson), and his stellar right-back (Kyle Walker), with two attacking players — Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, both coincidentally now of Manchester United.

This could only have been for one purpose: to buttress his penalty-taking cohort. There is science and research on this point, as The Athletic reported in the run-up to this final.

Such a decision makes sense analytically, but it may be acontextual.

Can any player, however talented, be expected to pick up the lifeforce of a match of this importance and intensity so quickly? One of the first things expected of a player in this instance is that they must calmly convert a penalty. This as hundreds of millions of people around the globe watch fixated, not to mention the high expectations of a nation — England — that despite having the most powerful national league in the world had not reached the final of a major international tournament for 55 years?

The short answer is “no”.

Both Rashford and Sancho failed to score, as was the case for Bukayo Saka, the fifth and final English penalty taker.

Racial abuse

If only that was the end of it. But, alas it is not. The racists who rushed out from their dark social media crevices within seconds of the denouement at Wembley would claim otherwise, but obviously the fact that all three of these English players happened to be black, while the two who had previously scored were white, had absolutely nothing to do with the outcome.

Yet, in an era in which racial injustice, and its deep historical, colonial causes, have gained far greater traction thanks to the global impact of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, this coincidence did and does matter.

As it has been all of the past week, my Twitter feed became a fractious contest of politics and sport and their irrepressible embrace. Within minutes of the Euro 2020 final’s conclusion, the first references to racist reactions to England’s loss appeared. Then the sickening screengrabs.

The football game at Wembley was wonderful to watch and an adrenaline-filled rush. But the aftermath was depressing and distressing.

Compelling sporting occasion

How can one tell that it was a good final rather than a mediocre one, as many finals often are?

Well, a good sporting occasion is one that, at least from the vantage point of the professional sportswriter, provokes a contest where the intro to the match report is re-written several times.

The final — a stomach-churning see-saw process — really began as the two-thirds’ mark of the match approached. Until then, England, brimming with confidence and competence, had looked sufficiently in control, armed as they were with their second-minute goal.

But then something happened. Not only did Italy somehow find an extra few litres of petrol in their tank, but also the extra guile and resolve to make it count.

They scored. And how poetic and just it was that Italy’s two magnificent “GOAT” centre-halves should be there close at hand to make it happen.

Captain Giorgio Chiellini was causing trouble and applying close physical pressure in the six-yard box as an Italian corner was nodded towards the near post by Marco Verrati, inducing a superb save from Jordan Pickford, the English goalkeeper.

The ball ricocheted back from the upright, but Leonardo Bonucci — Chiellini’s long-time companion at the heart of the Azzurri’s defence — was immediately on hand to slam the ball home.

How fitting that these bastions of the defensive redoubt should win that reprise for the country that they have served with such distinction — both have more than 100 caps each (221 between them), so they are veterans in every sense of the word.

They are the Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson of football. Consummate professionals; doggedly determined and defiant, but with a cheeky seen-it-all glint to their eye and a matey hug for opponents as well as compatriots.

Chiellini and Bonucci very rarely see the limelight or adorn the front page, let alone the centrefold, of any news journal or magazine. Their noses are far too large and broken for such glamour. They do the dirty work at the back, chiselling the precious metal from the ground, while happily allowing those fancy dandies in midfield and upfront to draw the spotlight and secure the sporting gold.

But Italy has always relished the defensive side of the game, which is why this Italian team was such a revelation. It played with so much elan in the early rounds of the tournament that seasoned commentators wondered if there had been some kind of identity theft, and that Brazil were imposters beneath the famous blue shirts.

It seemed, however, that they might have peaked too early, which can happen in a tournament. While Italy won smoothly and with panache in the leadup to the final, England trundled dully but effectively through the group stages.

Until the 67th minute, it looked that way. Then Bonucci struck, and the look in the English players’ eyes flicked from “we can do this” to “are we going to blow it?” Home pressure suddenly became a burden and the double pivot of the magnificent Declan Rice and the honest yeoman Kalvin Phillips looked unnecessarily cautious given the array of talent on the home team’s bench.

Italy’s renaissance was not relinquished and they are the deserved winners of this unusual iteration of the Euros. Not played in the year that it was supposed to be (2020), because of a once-in-a-century pandemic nor played in one country, as a consequence.

That a country should win it playing so out of character was, therefore, entirely fitting. But if only that was the long and short of it. As always with the greatest sporting dramas, there is a sub-text, and a second story worth telling. DM