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Euro 2020 countdown: build up to the big kick off – as it happened

All the latest news and features ahead of the opening match between Turkey and Italy in Rome

5.30pm BST

That’s it from me. The great Scott Murray will take you by the hand for the next five hours or so. Enjoy the game!

5.26pm BST

I’m going to hand over to Scott Murray for the build-up to Turkey v Italy. Before that, here’s a reminder of some of today’s news and features:

5.15pm BST

Belgium have confirmed that Kevin De Bruyne will not play in their opening match against Russia tomorrow night. De Bruyne suffered a fractured nose and eye socket during the Champions League final.

5.13pm BST

5.10pm BST

“So, it only takes 25 years of hindsight (3.51pm) to make VAR feel like a plus?” says Tom Hopkins. “Good to know. On that theme, I recall Germany’s winner in the final (Golden Goal, let’s never bring that nonsense back) having a whiff of offside but their whole squad rushing on to the pitch and the ref not having the nerve to send them all off again?”

That’s right: Stefan Kuntz was in an offside position and the linesman did put his flag up. The referee spoke to him and then gave the goal. In his defence, I don’t think Kuntz was interfering with play. But nor is it beyond the realms that a referee might bottle it.

5.05pm BST

(Just under) three hours to kick off! Scott Murray will be covering that, and the build up; he’s due to arrive in the MBM dungeon any minute now.

4.55pm BST

“It may not be the World Cup, but the combination of the Euros and the Copa America is a very close second!” chirps Mary Waltz. “While I look forward to the celebration of football with delight I notice the attitude of a prisoner on death row emanating from many of the fans of the Three Lions. Your history does not dictate another collapse. You have a wonderful squad. Stop with the funeral dirges.”

If you think this is bad, wait until they start winning games.

4.53pm BST

“More very useless info,” parps Paul Kelly. “Speaking of Marco Van Basten. A goal he definitely did score, the wonder volley in the final. Want to feel old? The man who provided the assist for that goal, Arnold Muhren, turned 70! last week.”

On that largely depressing note, I’ve just realised that the first man to score a European Championship-winning goal, Viktor Ponedelnik, died last December aged 83. I’m surprised that wasn’t more widely reported.

4.44pm BST

4.43pm BST

“Great to be reminded of Kevin McCarra,” says Charles Antaki, “what a terrific writer, and by all accounts a lovely man.”

It’s become such a cliché – “surprisingly down to earth, and very funny” – but Kevin really was one of the nicest people you could meet. He was painfully decent, incapable of the kind of egomania that runs through sports journalism. He had such originality, too, both in his writing style and thoughts about football. Jonathan Wilson wrote a really moving, perceptive tribute last year.

4.38pm BST

Please, please, please, let him start against Croatia

#EURO2020 ready ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/bOXvzAY4As

4.33pm BST

From the archive

Greece’s triumph makes even less sense now than it did in 2004. It was, as Kevin McCarra wrote, “a victory never to be forgotten or fully explained”.

4.01pm BST

Four hours until kick-off in Rome. I’m really looking forward to watching Turkey, who many people are tipping for biggish things.

3.57pm BST

Did you know (part 2) The first goal of Marco van Basten’s hat-trick against England in 1988 was actually a Gary Stevens own-goal.

We’re full of useless information today.

3.55pm BST

Here’s Andy Hunter on Croatia’s preparation for the big game at Wembley on Sunday. Yeeze, that’s going to be a cracker.

3.51pm BST

Did you know that, had VAR been used at Euro 96, Germany’s goal against England in the semi-final would have been disallowed for offside?

3.45pm BST

ICYMI, here’s Sean Ingle’s tournament preview

Given the challenges Uefa has faced from Covid as European football’s governing body, officials could have been forgiven for echoing Edmund Blackadder by sticking underpants on their heads, shoving a couple of pencils up their noses and crying “wibble”

3.44pm BST

I’ve just put Sky Sports News on to see what people are saying about Euro 2020. The first words I heard were “transfer window”. Make it stop!

3.36pm BST

Cheers David, hello everyone. Let’s start with a piece on Gareth Southgate and Englishness.

3.31pm BST

And on that behind-the-scenes bombshell, I’ll pass you back to Rob Smyth.

3.28pm BST

What do you see in your mind’s eye when listening? Was it this? Pretty much, to be honest.

@maxrushden @guardian_sport I feel this screenshot sums up tonight's Football Weekly live pod pretty well #GuardianLive #FootballWeekly #husky pic.twitter.com/BVusYpfGdb

3.21pm BST

Labour leader Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of a lack of courage over his reluctance to condemn fans who boo England’s players for taking the knee. Starmer has told the prime minister that his “failure of leadership” undermines the team’s chances of success at Euro 2020 and that Gareth Southgate has shown him how to be a leader.

Exclusive here from Jacob Steinberg:

3.06pm BST

Euro 2020 fan zone match screenings in the north-west of England are set to go ahead despite concerns around the high Covid rates in the region.

The rising rates are linked to the spread of the Delta variant. The variant first discovered in India is thought to spread more easily and be more resistant to vaccines.

3.03pm BST

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has backed the decision by Scotland’s football team to take a knee in solidarity with England when they play at Wembley.

From kick-off at Wembley next Friday, @ScotlandNT and @EnglandFootball will be the fiercest of opponents - but before that, the players will unite in solidarity against racism. Good decision, Scotland - well done! https://t.co/w15smxGsus

2.55pm BST

Spain’s players have been vaccinated against Covid at their training centre today as they continue their preparations for Monday’s opener against Sweden. Those who have experienced side effects a few days after receiving the jab may question the timing.

(Via Reuters):

2.44pm BST

A quick bit of non-Euro 2020 news. Tottenham defender Juan Foyth has joined Villarreal on a permanent basis.

The La Liga club have exercised the option they had to sign the 23-year-old Argentina international after he spent last season on loan with them.

2.35pm BST

Will you be cheering on all the home nations on?

The answer could be shaped by lots of things but as an Englishman born on St. David’s Day, whose favourite player as a kid was Kenny Dalglish, I don’t have to think twice when answering that question: of course I bloody will.

2.24pm BST

Scotland players will take the knee in solidarity with their England counterparts when they play at Wembley in Euro 2020.

(Per PA):

2.16pm BST

So you thought the only Greek connection with the Euros was Charisteas and co. causing a massive upset in 2004.

2.07pm BST

Thansk Rob. And I’ll start with some good news for Wales. Robert Page has confirmed that Aaron Ramsey is available for selection against Switzerland on Saturday. Ramsey sat out yesterday’s training session but will be involved at Baku’s Olympic Stadium.

We are sat here with 26 players fully fit and raring to go and Aaron falls into that category. We had a plan in place when I spoke to him a month ago about how many minutes we needed to achieve with one eye on Switzerland.

The build-up has gone really well, the medical team have got to take an enormous amount of credit for that.

1.55pm BST

I’m away to the doctors for a blood test, so I’ll hand you back to David Tindall for the next hour or so. Ta-ra!

1.51pm BST

Here are 24 reasons to be excited about the Euros

1.46pm BST

From the archive (4)

When asked for a rundown of Scotland’s strengths before the tournament, Franz Beckenbauer replied: “None visible.”

1.35pm BST

A reminder of this weekend’s fixtures (all kick-off times BST)

Friday

1.30pm BST

On this day in 2000, Jaap Stam didn’t flinch.

1.29pm BST

On this day in 1996, Croatia scored a late winner to beat Turkey at the City Ground. The reverse pass from Aljosa Asanovic is a beauty.

1.22pm BST

You can follow the race for the Golden Boot with our funky* interactive

1.03pm BST

Another plug for Jonathan Liew’s tournament preview

1.02pm BST

This is an interesting piece. I didn’t realise it was perceived as a humiliation, as Morocco were a bloody good side who would have gone through to the knockout stages but for Norway beating Brazil.

12.56pm BST

“Erthygl hyfryd gan Elis James,” says Matt Dony. “Surprisingly moving, too. Obviously, the Euros has hung over the end of the season, and I knew it was coming, and I was vaguely looking forward to it, but it always felt kind of distant. I’m suddenly hugely, unabashedly excited. The summer of 2016 was a massive highlight in my football life. But, I’m also aware that part of the magic was that everything was new and unexpected. This time around, it’s going to be an anticlimax, isn’t it? The group is horrible. There would be no shame in exiting at the group stage, but it will feel like a failure compared to last time. Sometimes, you wait a long time for a follow up, and it’s brilliant. Tool took 13 years to release Fear Inoculum, and it was magnificent. On the other hand, Chinese Democracy. Oh dear.”

Matt isn’t lying about the impact of 2016. I have fond memories of his increasingly, erm, unfettered emails during that semi-final against Portugal.

12.53pm BST

Ted Lasso intrigues me, because it looks hideous but has had consistently brilliant reviews. If I ever conquer my Premier League Years addiction, I’ll give it a try.

Best football film is tricky. Can't remember a single one. But the tv show Ted Lasso is a lot better than it has any right to be. It is a very American take on soccer but the characters have a lot more depth to them than you would expect from a pretty low budget tv comedy.

12.52pm BST

This is an interesting and slightly heartbreaking profile of João Cancelo, who is likely to play at full-back for Portugal.

12.49pm BST

Then and now

12.40pm BST

From the archive (3)

The Ladislav Jurkemik goal is a personal favourite, one of the great thunderbarstewards.

12.36pm BST

IT’S ONLY JOLLY WELL COMING HOME!

Yep, the Fiver is getting giddy, ish.

12.35pm BST

What’s the best football film you’ve seen?

No, Clive, Premier League Years 1994-95 doesn’t count as a film.

12.34pm BST

Predictions department

12.30pm BST

It’s such a personal thing. I would go for 2000 as well, though 1976 packed an astonishing amount into four games. You can make an extremely good case for 1984 as well.

A simple question: which Euros was the best:

I m not neutral, but 2000..., this equalizer in the last seconds and a golden goal (the volley of Trezeguet!!!) in final...
My best and strongest emotions with football.

12.27pm BST

From the archive (2)

The Sun has maintained a jingoistic approach, rather than a xenophobic one

12.25pm BST

Elis James will be writing for us throughout the tournament (and if you haven’t seen his Football Nation series, you should, as it’s exceedingly good). Here he is on the joy and camaraderie of watching Wales overseas, some of which even involves the football.

12.21pm BST

From the archive

12.18pm BST

Here’s our Experts’ Network feature on the defending champions Portugal, an intriguing mix of galacticos, geriatricos and Wolverhampton Wanderers players.

12.14pm BST

Thanks David, hello everyone. Let’s start with the big calls facing Gareth Southgate ahead of England’s game on Sunday. Since you asked, my XI would be Pickford; James, Stones, Lordknows, Chilwell; Phillips, Rice; Sancho, Mount, Grealish; Kane.

12.12pm BST

Time to pass the Euro 2020 baton to Rob Smyth, who’ll be keeping you informed and entertained for the next few hours.

12.02pm BST

A simple question: which Euros was the best? I’d personally go Euro 96 (a combination of being in my carefree 20s and England doing well) although 1984 when John Motson got very, very excited (Tigana... Tigana... Platini... GOAL!!!) in a more natural way then he does now was a belter too.

Guardian readers reminisce here in this feature by Paul Campbell.

11.53am BST

Gareth Bale, looking uncannily like a Cyberman from Doctor Who (hence the robotic answers), has been speaking this morning on the eve of Wales’s Euro 2020 opener against Switzerland on Saturday afternoon. Italy and Turkey get the Group A action in play this evening.

It’s similar (to Euro 2016) coming into the tournament. On the back of 2016 there should be expectations, but it’s a different team and a different tournament.

We know it’s a difficult group to get out of. They are all difficult teams to play against, but we’ve got to take one game at a time. We are very excited to be here and one day away. I feel fine and ready to give 100 per cent for my country, as I always do.

11.38am BST

Turkey are being billed as a side that could score plenty of goals but concede their fair share too. However, it’s a stretch to think that their game against Italy this evening will come close to matching this one.

Richard Foster for The Football Mine takes us back in time.

11.31am BST

Germany currently out on the training pitch in Herzogenaurach (a couple of hours from Munich) and Champions League final hero Kai Havertz is getting a birthday hug from manager Joachim Löw. Havertz is the grand old age of 22.

11.19am BST

There’s something very pleasing about comparing stadiums at a major football tournament. My own fetish probably started with Panini stickers. Sometimes they came as two-parters, meaning great care and attention was needed when joining one half to the other.

We have 11 to peruse this time and Barry Glendenning and Paul Bellsham have put together this lovely guide:

11.10am BST

For those who like perfect symmetry, Turkey and Italy’s only previous meeting in a major tournament was on this very day in Euro 2000.

Italy won 2-1 courtesy of goals from some guy called Antonio Conte (huh, whatever happened to him?) and a penalty from Filippo Inzaghi. Okan Buruk scored for Turkey.

Related: Turkey 1 - 2 Italy

11.02am BST

If I’ve filled in my When Saturday Comes Euro 2020 wallchart correctly, I’m getting a France v Belgium final.

Gregg highlighted the predictions of our writers earlier so I’ve decided to tot up the votes from the 12-strong panel:

10.41am BST

Talk of that 1988 Dutch team a couple of posts earlier inevitably leads us to that volley from Marco van Basten. The eye is obviously drawn to the goalscorer but an underrated part of this clip is the comic drunken stumble of Soviet goalkeeper Rinat Dasayev as the ball nestles in the back of the net.

10.32am BST

I know Gregg’s already mentioned it but I’ll give the magnificent Euro 2020 interactive guide another shout out.

Having been born in Whitehaven myself, this Dean Henderson snippet is a personal favourite:

Like the former Liverpool and West Brom keeper Scott Carson, Henderson was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria, and his first steps in sport came at a local rugby league club, Kells. In the 2001 census, taken when Henderson was four and Carson 15, the town’s population was 24,054 – so approximately one in every 2,056 people in England lived there. Since 2001 one in every seven people to debut in goal for England has been from Whitehaven.

10.24am BST

It’s important for any team with trophy aspirations to get off to a fast start, right? That’s the ideal but it’s not everything as Danish attacker Pernille Harder points out here. She has first-hand experience having lost to the Netherlands in the groups stages of the Euros in 2017 before going on to reach the final.

Off the top of my head I can think of another couple of examples: the Netherlands lost their opening group game to Russia in Euro 1988 but later beat them in the final and Spain lifted the World Cup trophy in 2010 despite suffering a shock 1-0 defeat in their first match against Switzerland.

10.14am BST

Hello! David Tindall here. In the spirit of the Euros, we’re moving the blog around different locations so I’ll take over from Gregg for a few hours.

10.00am BST

The Scotland team faced heavy criticism overnight following its decision not to take the knee during the Euro 2020 championship, in contrast to England’s determination to keep kneeling. Campaigning lawyer Aamer Anwar described the decision as “pathetic”, and called on the Scottish FA to explain how it can unite against racism “when you do the opposite?”

The move was also condemned by politicians. Kirsten Oswald, the SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster, said: “This is a mistake. Not taking the knee sends a really disappointing message from our national team.|

9.58am BST

It seems ridiculous that Finland, the nation that gave the world the joyful talents of Jari Litmanen, is only now playing in a first major football tournament. The Finnish captain Tim Sparv, who is writing a regular column for the Guardian throughout the tournament, describes how he feels on the eve of their opening Group B match against Denmark tomorrow. Yes, he’s psyched.

9.42am BST

Xherdan Shaqiri’s huge and often injured calf muscles have prevented the Liverpool forward from gaining much momentum going into the tournament. But he is aiming to do big things with in-form Switzerland and says he has “a secret” target for Euro 2020. Here’s Andy Hunter on the threat the “Power Cube” still poses to Wales’s hopes when they meet in Baku tomorrow.

9.32am BST

England’s buildup has been overshadowed by the booing of players taking a knee at Middlesbrough and the political discussion that has followed it, with Boris Johnson refusing to condemn the fans’ actions. The former prime minister Gordon Brown has spoken to the BBC’s Nick Robinson this morning and told the UK government to support the England team’s decision to take the knee before matches and stop fighting culture wars over “unimportant” gestures.

I would like Boris Johnson to come out publicly and support the England football team and what they do.

9.20am BST

I haven’t mentioned England yet. So here goes. After some underwhelming warm-up games, how will they fare with Harry Maguire likely to miss at least two group games and both Jordan Henderson and Jack Grealish struggling for fitness? Personally, I think they may run into trouble in the last 16 but they still have a very talented group of young attack-minded players. One of them is Bukayo Saka, Arsenal’s only England representative at the Euros. He explains here how he got his “little chilli” nickname.

9.06am BST

The Guardian’s Rome correspondent, Angela Giuffrida, has been talking to locals to get their views on how they feel as Euro 2020 kicks off in their back yard. It’s fair to say excitement is hardly at fever pitch. Here’s the opinion of Marco Martinelli, a restaurant owner.

The atmosphere is a little sad. You don’t have all the fervour that you would usually get before such a tournament … I don’t feel the excitement yet.

8.55am BST

I know a lot about North Macedonia’s creative spark, Eljif Elmas. For instance, he used to work in his father’s sweet shop in Skopje. How do I know such vital information? Because I’ve read and digested this complete guide to all 622 players at Euro 2020. There’s still time for you to do the same too.

8.35am BST

Good morning! So, just the 364 days after it was supposed to start, Euro 2020 is upon us. Have you got that Big Tournament buzz, yet? The first match kicks off in Rome tonight at 8pm (BST), where 16,000 fans at the Stadio Olimpico will watch Italy take on Turkey in Group A. That’s just a quarter of the grand old stadium’s capacity and a sign of these Covid times. Jonathan Liew is in Rome to report on that one and he’s written this scene-setter before the big kick-off.

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