Euro 2020 will be remembered as the year of the Italian renaissance

As the celebrations continue in Rome, the soccer world can take a breath and recollect on an exciting and captivating Euro 2020 tournament. While the Italians reigned supreme and England is left yet again wondering if they will win a major trophy, there are quite a few memories that will vividly remain long into the future.

Let’s dive into the lasting images of this tournament, and discuss how it will be remembered down the road.

From the depths to the summit in one cycle

The story of the tournament begins and ends with Italy, who went from the depths of despair in 2018 when they sat at home watching the World Cup to seeing their players lift the trophy on Sunday. The victory over England was the culmination of a reclamation project launched by manager Roberto Mancini, who turned the Azzurri from a pragmatic defense-minded unit into a midfield-dominant group that looked to attack with gusto and bury teams with goals.

Italy entered the tournament having gone unbeaten since September 2018, a streak of 27 matches dating back to a defeat to Portugal. They proceeded to not only run that streak to 34 matches with seven wins in the tournament, they have won 15 consecutive matches and set a new national record for longest clean sheet streak, going 1,168 minutes without conceding before Austria found the back of the next in the Round of 16. They conceded just four goals in the tournament, while scoring 13.

Italy can tie the world record for longest unbeaten streak against Bulgaria on Sept. 2, and set a new one against Switzerland three days later. They currently sit just one match behind Brazil and Spain, who each went 35 straight without a defeat. Regardless of whether they pull off the feat, this tournament will be remembered for the Italian renaissance under Mancini.

Donnarumma lives up to his namesake

Named the Player of the Tournament and Goalkeeper of the Tournament all at once, Gianluigi Donnarumma showed that the transition from namesake Gianluigi Buffon will be seamless. Since joining the Italian national team five years ago, Donnarumma has yet to concede multiple goals in any match. He is also now unbeaten for club and country in five penalty shootouts, coming up with massive saves against both Spain in the semifinal and England in the final.

At just 22 years old, Donnarumma has 33 caps for Italy and now has a European Championship, the first one Italy has won in more than 50 years. After the match ended, defender Leonardo Bonucci exclaimed, "I was lucky because I played with Gianluigi Buffon, now I play with Gigi Donnarumma; it is the same!” It sounds like his mother knew what she was doing when she named him after the legendary keeper.

One moment brought the soccer world together

The lasting picture from the tournament will undoubtedly be the Danish players surrounding their captain and leader Christian Eriksen, following his sudden heart-related collapse in Denmark’s opening match with Finland.

His near-death experience saw the entire soccer community rally behind him, and sparked multiple shows of sportsmanship and outreach from the tournament’s other nations. Nearly every team reached out to show support for the midfielder, while giving signed jerseys, messages of love, and genuine camaraderie in sending their well-wishes to Eriksen.

While his future remains unknown, it reminded everyone that while this game can encourage passion and rivalry, at the end of the day life matters so much more than sport.

England’s bright hopes tarnished by hate

Unfortunately, that very message seemed to be lost in the hours after England’s hopes of bringing football "home" came to an end with the penalty shootout defeat. What had been a team that nearly all English citizens were rallying behind suddenly became a group of players who were defined not by their citizenship but by the color of their skin.

Of the five players to take penalties for England, the three who failed to convert were all young men of color. Within minutes, their social media pages were littered with horrific messages of racial abuse, and a mural in Manchester of star player and philanthropist Marcus Rashford was defaced with disparaging messages. It was a harsh reminder of the tribalism that infiltrates dark corners of the sport, and enforced the very reason why players knelt before the kickoff of nearly every match in the tournament.

While the messages of support the day after far outweighed the vitriol directed their way, it leaves a stain on what should have been a bright future for the English national team heading into next year’s World Cup. The heartbreak of coming so close on home soil will linger for a long time, but the stain of racism is one that will need a lot of work to ever be fully washed away.