Gary Lineker’s mockery of Ciro Immobile riled some in the Italian media, who responded by adjusting his famous phrase to reflect the fact England ‘haven’t won anything since 1966.’
The incident occurred during the first Italy goal in the 2-1 UEFA EURO 2020 quarter-final victory against Belgium.
Immobile was caught in the box when going for a 50-50 ball and remained on the ground until he realised Nicolò Barella had scored, at which point the Lazio striker got back to his feet to join the celebrations.
Despite the win over the side on top of the FIFA world rankings, and the fantastic Lorenzo Insigne strike, the main talking point on social media the day after is Immobile’s attempt to win a penalty.
This irritated La Repubblica newspaper, whose online edition included an editorial from Maurizio Crosetti explaining what was ‘really’ behind the mockery and insults, which included calling Immobile “pathetic” and “embarrassing.”
While admitting Immobile doesn’t exactly come off well, they also note that the BBC former players – including let’s not forget Jurgen Klinsmann, who was perhaps the greatest artist of the dive ever known to football – aren’t coming out of this much better.
The editorial points out that perhaps it is fuelled by the calls from Italy for the semi-finals and Final to be taken away from Wembley due to the escalating COVID-19 cases in England, and moved to either Rome or Munich.
It also implies England see Italy as their primary threat to lifting the EURO 2020 trophy this summer, after France, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands were all eliminated.
Above all, they point to ‘salt-and-pepper-haired pundit’ Gary Lineker and his famous phrase: “Football is a simple game. 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.”
Considering how poorly Germany have been doing lately, crashing out in the Round of 16, La Repubblica suggest a different motto that still stands true.
“Football is a sport where 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the English are always bitter, because they haven’t won anything since 1966.”
Immobile novello Lazzaro, l’ironia inglese e quella battaglia tra rosiconi e furbacchioni https://t.co/NdWM33ctoi
— Repubblica (@repubblica) July 3, 2021