Italy – England, Euro 2020: Gianluigi Donnarumma is a player of the tournament. Should this choice come as a surprise?

Italians had to chase the result from the second minute, after hitting Luke Shaw. The experienced, 34-year-old Leonardo Bonucci equalized. Roberto Mancini’s team was back in the game and led to a streak of eleven. Italy could feel strong in this aspect, since they won the penalty shootout competition with Spain in the semi-finals (1: 1, 4-2k).

See also: Italians are the champions of Europe! England lost on penalties

In the final at Wembley it was almost the same. The footballers from the Apennine Peninsula won the war of nerves. Gianluigi Donnarumma performed brilliantly in the goal. The 22-year-old defended Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka’s shots. The first is 21 years old, the second will be 20 in September. The eleven was also wasted by nearly 24-year-old Marcus Rashford. For a Manchester United player, this is another series of eleven that he will not remember well. He recently lost a penalty in the Europa League final in Gdańsk with Villarreal.

Donnarumma was awarded the title of the tournament footballer. The 22-year-old looked surprised, but this choice should come as no surprise. Despite his young age, he is already an experienced player. Since 2015, he has been a player in the AC Milan first team. He has been a free player since July 1, but is about to sign a contract with PSG. Together with the European Championships final, he played 32 matches for the Italian national team. The transfermarkt.de portal estimates it at EUR 60 million. With his attitude, Donnarumma won a place between the squadra Azzurra posts and it is possible that he will not give it back for the next several years, after all, until recently this role was played by its namesake – Gianluigi Buffon.

The choice of the Italian goalkeeper for the tournament should come as no surprise. First he helped Italy beat the Spanish in a series of eleven, then stopped the English at Wembley.