(IMAGE) What Mason Mount was caught doing after England’s defeat in Euro 2020 Final
Mason Mount and England suffered heavy defeat in the Euro 2020 final to Italy last night, going down 3-2 on penalties at the end of 120 nail-biting minutes at Wembley.
With the scores locked at 1-1 after the conclusion of extra time, a penalty shoot-out was the only way that the winner of the rearranged European Championship could be decided, with Roberto Mancini’s Italy coming out on top, as goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma produced two saves to thwart both Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka.
Prior to those two being denied either side of Jordan Pickford producing a brilliant stop to deny Chelsea midfielder Jorginho, Marcus Rashford struck the woodwork, meaning his miss from 12 yards was the first of three consecutive penalties missed by the Three Lions.
Having come so far, England manager Gareth Southgate was understandably gutted, but at the same time proud of every member of his squad, who lead the country to their first final at a major tournament since 1966.
“Tonight is going to be extremely difficult for all of us, of course,” said Southgate, as quoted by BBC Sport. “You have to feel that disappointment because the opportunities to win trophies like this are so rare in your life.
“But when they reflect on what they have done, they should be incredibly proud of themselves.
“The players have been an absolute credit. They have given everything they possibly could.
“They have been an absolute joy to work with and they have gone further than we’ve gone for so long. But it is incredibly painful in that dressing room.”
To have lost a final in that manner, especially after having taken the lead so early on through Luke Shaw’s excellent finish, it is bound to have hurt England’s players, just as it did everyone watching inside Wembley and on TV across the nation.
But as deflated as England’s players may have felt, they still had to take the dreaded walk that every losing finalist must take: the walk of the runners-up to pick up those runners-up medals.
Unsurprisingly, manager Southgate, who lead by example throughout the tournament, wore his around his neck, no doubt with pride, as he walked past the trophy and continued to applaud the Three Lions fans who had stayed behind following the final whistle to applaud their heroes and acknowledge their efforts.
But whilst Southgate, who has acted impeccably throughout the tournament and gained the respect of so many, wore his medal with pride, it was just a little bit too much for Chelsea star Mason Mount, who did not even want the medal placed around his neck.
Collecting his runners-up medal from UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, Mount pulled it back over his head as soon as it was placed around his neck, highlighting just how much he would have preferred it to be a winners’ medal instead.
He walked off from the podium with the medal in his hand, no doubt thinking about what could have been had things mapped out differently in the shoot-out.
Mount played 99 minutes of the contest before being replaced by Aston Villa ace Jack Grealish.
