From the Highbury Lions to Capello’s goal: almost 90 years of legendary challenges | News

Once upon a time there were i football masters, those who did not stoop to participate in international challenges because they considered themselves too superior to mix with the rest of the world. That is why, until 1976, the matches between Italy e England they were just friendly. The first ever challenge is dated May 13, 1933. In Rome it ends 1-1. It is the prelude to an encounter that has gone down in history like that of the “Highbury Lions“.

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On November 14, 1934, Italy, reigning world champion, was invited by the British to make it clear who really is the strongest team on the planet. In the Arsenal stadium the Azzurri are three goals down after 12 minutes. It seems the prelude to a massacre, also because Luis Monti breaks his foot and the substitutions have not yet been invented. Meazza takes care of scoring two goals and Italy, for a while, does not touch a legendary equal. From 1939 to 1961 another six friendlies with the slightly exciting balance of three draws and three victories for England.

To see the first Italian success, you have to wait until 1973. In the friendly match in Turin, the Azzurri of Valcareggi, returning from second place in Mexico ’70, with goals from Anastasi and Capello. The number ten of that Juve in the seventies becomes the hero of another friendly, this time at Wembley, with the goal scored a few minutes from the end after a total domination by the English. The positive period continues with the first challenge that is worth something. World Cup qualification ’78, Rome 17 November 1976: 2-0 signed by Antognoni and Bettega (with a splendid header from a Benetti cross). The return of London ends with the same result but in favor of our opponents. However, Italy will go to Argentina thanks to the total goal difference.

It is the national team that is forging Bearzot, which will lead them to lift the 1982 World Cup to the sky in Madrid. Two years earlier, at the home Europeans, Italy overtook Keegan’s England in its group with a goal from Tardelli that will anticipate a scream that has entered the myth. After two pre-world friendlies (a 2-1 for the Azzurri a year before Mexico ’86 and a 0-0 at Wembley in 1989), the consolation challenge of Italia ’90 is staged with Vicini’s national team overcoming that of Robson in Bari in the final for third place. Seven years later, another feat worth framing: victory in London in the qualifiers for France ’98 with a goal from Zola that enhances Cesare Maldini’s new selection. The zero to zero of the return to the Olimpico, however, will force the Azzurri to play-off (later won) with Russia for a place in the world championship. In between a 2-0 English in the tournament of France.

In 2000 Italy returned to win with a goal from Gattuso in a friendly match in Turin, success repeated two years later in Leeds, with a brace from Montella, a few months before the 2002 World Cup. Ten years of abstinence before the Euro challenge 2012, in the quarter-finals in Kiev: a zero to zero that qualifies the Azzurri to the semifinal thanks to penalties, among which Pirlo’s spoon that mocked Hart stands out. Two months later the English win a friendly match in Switzerland before another very important challenge: the debut at the Brazilian world championships in 2014. Italy wins with goals from Marchisio and Balotelli, deceiving everyone. The defeats against Costa Rica and Uruguay will bring the Azzurri back to a reality that speaks of an elimination in the first round. Since then, two friendlies have ended with the same result, 1-1, in 2015 and 2018. In short, at Euro 2020, at Wembley, the first final between Italy and England will be staged to enrich a truly endless story.

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