England players take off runners-up medals after Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy

Mason Mount took off his silver medal during the presentation ceremony (BBC)

The majority of England’s players immediately took off their runners-up medals following the defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday.

Luke Shaw’s early goal gave England the perfect start at Wembley but Leonardo Bonucci scored in the second half to pull Italy level.

The two sides could not be separated after 90 minutes or in extra time, which meant a penalty shootout was required to decide the winner of Euro 2020.

And misses from Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who had his decisive penalty saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma, secured Italy’s victory at Wembley.

During the trophy presentation, England’s players were given a guard of honour by Italy as they collected their runners-up medals.

But many of England’s players, including Rashford, Sancho, Shaw, Jack Grealish, Mason Mount and Kyle Walker, immediately removed their medals after they were presented by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.

Jack Grealish instantly took off his medal (BBC)

England right-back Kyle Walker removed his medal before stepping off the podium (BBC)

Speaking after England’s defeat, captain Harry Kane said: ‘The boys couldn’t have given more.

‘Penalties are the worst thing in the world when you lose them. It’s been a fantastic tournament, we should be proud and hold our heads up high, but it’s going to hurt now.

‘It’s going to hurt for a while, but we’re on the right track and we’re building. Hopefully we can progress next year.

Luke Shaw, who scored England’s goal in the final, took off his medal straight away (BBC)

Jadon Sancho, who missed in the penalty shootout, took off his medal (BBC)

‘We played against a very good side and got off to the perfect start. We maybe dropped a little bit too deep, sometimes when you score that early, it’s easy to soak up the pressure and hold onto that. They had a lot of the ball, but we looked fairly in control.

‘We didn’t create too many chances, they got the breakthrough from a set piece and after that, it was probably 50/50. We had a few half chances in extra time and then penalties are penalties. We went through our process and the boys did everything they could, but it just wasn’t our night.

‘Anyone can miss a penalty. We win together, we lose together and we’ll grow from it. It will give us more motivation to do well in the World Cup next year.’

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