An Italian fan has recalled the violence of the Euro 2020 final - which was the scene of chaos on an infamous night at Wembley.
England were aiming for a first major tournament success since 1966 and the appetite for victory only increased with the final being played on home soil. Italy, though, spoiled the home party as they secured a 3-2 penalty shootout success after the match had finished 1-1.
The final took place with the world still gradually coming out of the Covid pandemic, which had delayed the original tournament by a year. As a result only 67,000 fans had tickets but more than 6,000 others showed up at Wembley and the surrounding areas - some arriving as early as 8am, 12 hours before kick-off.
Netflix documentary The Final: Attack On Wembley will air on May 8, with innocent fans and Wembley workers shedding more light on the chaos. A security guard at the famous stadium said: “I’ve never seen anything of that sort in my life. This horde of zombies come running in, falling over, people trampling over them. It was madness. If I had thrown myself in front of all those people I probably would not be sitting here today.”
Italian Gianluca Santoro, who lives in South London, was among those at Wembley cheering on the Azzurri but was forced to shield his daughter Maya, then aged 10, from objects being lobbed at them by England fans. The 51-year-old told The Sun : “I remember walking towards the stadium and the floor was full of broken glass. It was like a bomb had gone off.
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“I had to stop bottles and cans hitting us with my hands, which was painful, and some were open so the beer was spraying all over us. I was really scared for my daughter’s safety because the bottles were flying at us from all over the place and people were yelling abuse and swearing at me right to my face.
“We found a group of Italians and we all surrounded Maya to create a protective barrier. I took off my rucksack to cover her face and they put jackets and hoodies around her. I felt silly, naive and guilty that I took her but I imagined a different atmosphere, I thought people would be happy to be at Wembley and in the final. I wasn’t expecting so much abuse.”
More than 2,000 ticketless fans stormed the stadium and thousands more just outside - several of whom were under the influence - causing destruction as unsavoury scenes occurred.
An Italian fan and his daughter were targeted by England fansFootage from that day has showed people with injuries from fights and glass bottles being thrown into the air. There was also plenty of vandalism with traffic lights and lamp posts being broken. After that night Baroness Louise Casey’s launched a review into violence and concluded a “series of near misses” could have led to “significant injuries or even death” and that Wembley’s security had been breached 17 times.
Metropolitan Police apologised for the “unacceptable scenes of disorder”. They had sent the majority of officers to Central London, where they anticipated any antisocial behaviour would take place. Their main deployment was due to arrive at Wembley by 3pm - five hours before kick-off - but were called in early due to the chaotic scenes.
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