England v Italy: Can we fast forward to the Euro 2020 final please – The Warm-Up

ByMichael Hincks

Updated 09/07/2021 at 07:55 GMT

There are still two full days before the actual day of the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy. Elsewhere, Jose Mourinho gave his first Roma press conference, Olivier Giroud could go for peanuts, and it’s 15 years since one of the most memorable World Cup moments. If you’re doing the maths now, and worked it out, then yes, it’s that moment.

FRIDAY’S BIG STORIES

Bring on Sunday, please

It's not so much the tension that is unbearable as the stuff filling our feeds as we wait. No one needs to hear Jacob Rees-Mogg recite lines from 'World in Motion', the debate over Wednesday’s penalty is becoming a little tedious, and there are only so many football anthems to get us through the day before it gets a little repetitive.

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The wait is making us all a little restless, bar England's basketball-playing, unicorn-riding players it would seem, with the English public getting excited and clicking in their hundreds of thousands in the hope of getting a last-minute Bank Holiday Monday.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail and all, and win or lose there'll be some sore heads Monday given it's an 8pm Sunday kick-off, but PM and all-of-a-sudden England fan Boris Johnson does not want to jump the gun by declaring an emergency holiday before the game's over.

"I think that would be tempting fate; let's see what happens,” he said, after a petition reached more than 100,000 signatures calling for a day off.

That does give us a fear he may try and steal the limelight Sunday night, grab the mic and declare a holiday on the spot after thanking his sponsors. It would be an easy win, easier than whatever may go down for the 90/120 minutes prior, while the Italians will likely make this a moot point in 60 odd hours anyway.

Jose gonna Jose

Apparently there's some non-Euros news kicking around but we'll keep it kind of on topic by heading to Rome, where the road that is management has led Jose Mourinho towards.

The Portuguese has made unveilings his thing, his opportunity to shine and give a famous line, while benefitting from the fact this will likely be the happiest the club's fandom are with having him as their boss.

'A disaster for me is something most coaches won't acheive in a lifetime' Mourinho at Roma

The new Roma boss avoided declaring what ‘One’ he would be but he couldn't help but make a point about his trophy haul at Manchester United and the fact he was unable to play the final of a tournament he helped Tottenham reach.

"At my last three clubs I won the Premier League with Chelsea, I won three cups with Manchester United, I made it into the League Cup final with Tottenham," Mourinho said.

We finished 12th the year before and then we came sixth and qualified for the Europa League. What is considered a disaster for me is something that other coaches have never achieved in their lifetimes.

That’s Jose. He has a point, too, but as Chelsea, United and Spurs fans will know, his ability to talk outweighs his managerial qualities - at the moment.

One point seven million

We’ve seen some crazy transfer fees in recent years but the pandemic is throwing out some bargains now.

Manchester United eventually landed Jadon Sancho for some £50m lower than Borussia Dortmund wanted the season prior, and now it appears AC Milan are on the verge of buying Olivier Giroud from Chelsea for £1.7m.

Olivier Giroud

Image credit: Getty Images

You’ll find Championship players comfortably going for more these days, but it goes to show how badly some of these Premier League teams want to get big wages off their books.

Over in Spain, too, with Barcelona and Lionel Messi, a deal that has yet to be signed as the club must reportedly offload a few others to afford him.

IN THE CHANNELS

What he said.

RETRO CORNER

‘Tis the season for major tournament anniversaries, and it is difficult to compute that the Zinedine Zidane headbutt on Marco Materazzi was 15 years ago today. So, to celebrate(?), relive that memorable 2006 World Cup final moment below, as many times as you like.

COMING UP

Yep, if you got down to this bit it’s still two days away, so in the meantime enjoy the tennis, catch some cycling, and then check your phone to see if it’s July 11 yet.

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