24 June 2012, Olympic Stadium, Kyiv. Italy 0–0 England, after extra time. Italy win 4–2 on penalties.
By Hamish McTavish
A Sunday night in Kyiv, the Olympic Stadium still holding the heat, and a manager who had been in the job five minutes and had already decided this might be the tournament they won on penalties. Roy Hodgson had them practising. He said afterwards he had rather hoped, once it went to the spot, that it would be their tournament to win that way. Andrea Pirlo, who had known Hodgson at Inter a lifetime ago, embraced him before kick-off and then spent two hours using the ball as if England were a cone session. Tuttosport, in the morning, would steal the nickname. We are the lions. Corriere dello Sport had Enormous, over Diamanti. England’s sixth shoot-out loss in seven. Eight years to the day since Ricardo in Lisbon.
They had come through a group without losing, which is the certainty a new England manager is allowed: heads high, organised, Rooney back from suspension, the idea that a quarter-final is a platform. Hodgson said he could not have asked for more than they gave. He also said they were not quite good enough to win it over ninety minutes, and that when it came to penalties they went down the same road they had gone down so many times before. That second sentence is the night. The first one is the presser. Italy had Cesare Prandelli, Gianluigi Buffon, Pirlo, Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano, and a full-back missing in Giorgio Chiellini. Leonardo Bonucci started instead. England had Joe Hart, Glen Johnson, John Terry, Joleon Lescott, Ashley Cole, Scott Parker, Steven Gerrard, James Milner, Ashley Young, Rooney, Danny Welbeck.
Kyiv at night is a wide bowl and a lot of empty air if you do not have the ball. England had come through France and Sweden and Ukraine without losing a group match, which Hodgson was entitled to take as a start. A quarter-final against Italy is the start they always think they have earned. They had a promising quarter of an hour. Then Pirlo took the baton, as UEFA’s own man put it, and the rest of the match happened at his pace. The travelling support sang anyway. They always do. It does not change the occupancy of the grass. The deep block looked organised until the hour asked for a second idea.
They kicked off anyway.
Italy had the ball. England had the counter, or the idea of one. Johnson was the battering ram down the right. Welbeck and Rooney had the early looks. Then the hour went, and Hodgson waited, and Italy kept coming. Daniele De Rossi hit a post. Hart saved from De Rossi. Balotelli had the night’s other almost. Andy Carroll and Theo Walcott came on about the hour, which is a manager remembering he has a plan B after the plan A has been a deep block. Extra time was the same game with heavier legs. Diamanti, on for Cassano, had the extra-time chance. Nobody scored. Penalties, the obsession Hodgson named in the room afterwards. You cannot reproduce the tired legs, he said. You cannot reproduce the pressure. You cannot reproduce the nervous tension. The Italians stood up to it better. Pirlo’s kick was the perfect example.
Gerrard scored. Balotelli scored. Rooney scored. Riccardo Montolivo missed, wide, and for a minute it was 2–1 and the road looked different. Then Pirlo walked up, saw Hart already energised, and chipped it, a falling leaf, the cucchiaio, Hart already on the floor before the ball had decided to drop. Young hit the bar. Antonio Nocerino scored. Cole, the left-back who had taken them in Lisbon, was saved by Buffon. Diamanti rolled in the last one. Four-two. Hodgson said anyone can miss a penalty, that they were not nonchalant, that Young smashed the bar and Buffon saved Cole’s, and that a player’s reputation should not be forged on one kick. He also said you cannot coach what Pirlo had. Pirlo said he saw the keeper was really energised, so it was easier that way, and that from that moment the English were under pressure. He was right. The next two English kicks were the night.
Pirlo had the two hours and the chip. Hart had the energised run and the ball dropping over him. Young had the bar. Cole had the save. Gerrard and Rooney had the ones that went in and did not matter. Montolivo had the miss that should have been a door. Diamanti had the last kick and the Italian front page. Buffon had Cole. Hodgson had the practise, the hope, the heads-held-high, and the same road. Tuttosport had the nickname. We are the lions. They can have it. They took it on the grass. Lisbon had been eight years to the day. Kyiv made the arithmetic six from seven.
They said it would be our tournament to win on penalties. They said heads high. They said you cannot coach that. They said we are the lions. If you still think it was only the chip, a funeral is only a Tuesday. The chip was a man who still had the ball after two hours. The bar and the save were the ones who had been running after him. The nickname went home in Italian.
The film is up. UEFA still keep the full shoot-out: the miss, the leaf, the bar, Buffon, Diamanti. Do not review it. Watch the practise die on the third Italian kick.
Related reading
- It's coming to Rome — Wembley 2021, Italy again, another shoot-out that stayed with the visitors
- Reffing disgrace — Lisbon 2004, eight years to the day before Kyiv, Ricardo and the same road
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at /shop.
FAQ
What was the score when Italy beat England at Euro 2012?
Italy 0–0 England after extra time; Italy won 4–2 on penalties, on 24 June 2012 in Kyiv. Young hit the bar; Buffon saved Cole; Diamanti scored the last.
Why “We are the lions”?
Tuttosport’s morning headline after the shoot-out — Italy claiming the nickname England had been singing all tournament.
Who took the famous chipped penalty?
Andrea Pirlo. After Montolivo’s miss left England ahead on kicks, Pirlo chipped over Hart; Young and Cole then failed.