Gareth Southgate has pleaded with fans not to boo the Italian national anthem tonight.
Southgate urges fans not to boo the Italian national anthem. Although he has asked them to intimidate Italy during the game. As England bid to win their first trophy in 55 years the England manager wants the Italian team to feel intimidated at Wembley for the final tonight.
However he said booing their national anthem may only add to the team’s inspiration. Southgate said “It is important that our fans always respect the opposition and we know that in actual fact when we play abroad and fans boo our anthem it probably inspires us even more, so I don’t think it will help the team. I think we can intimidate the team with the booing during the game, but it’s different for the anthem. I think we should be respectful.”
Tonight will be the first final for England since the World Cup way back in 1966 and although England have exceeded many people’s expectations during this years Euro championships, Southgate wants to go all the way.
After receiving a good luck message from Her Majesty The Queen Southgate wants to end the nation’s long wait for silverware.
He said “It’s been fantastic to have a letter from the queen, a letter from the prime minister to all of the team and the recognition that the players and all of the staff have gone about this in the right way. We had a fabulous reception when we left St George’s, all the local villages had come out and were lining the route and pulled over in laybys so you got more of a sense of what’s gone on outside of the bubble we’ve been in.
But it always comes back to tomorrow, we’re in a final and we’re here to win. Everything is important how we’ve represented people and we’re pleased that legacy has been there but now we want to go and win the trophy for everybody. The players are ready, they are tactically aware, they are used to playing in these games and looking forward to it.
Over the last four years they’ve knocked down so many barriers, they’ve come through so many challenges, different ways to win matches, had to come back from being behind, had to go through extra-time, penalty shootouts, so their resilience and experience as a team has prepared them for this moment.”