EURO on this day: 2 July
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
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On this day: David Trezeguet's golden goal crowned France as European champions in 2000.
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France 2-1 Italy (aet, gg)
(Wiltord 90+4, Trezeguet 103; Delvecchio 55)
2000 final, Rotterdam
France became the first team to win the UEFA European Championship as world champions after David Trezeguet came off the bench to score a golden goal.
It left Italy crestfallen, the Azzurri having been seconds from winning the contest in normal time, leading through Marco Delvecchio's strike before Sylvain Wiltord's last-gasp effort forced the additional period.
Trezeguet did the rest after Robert Pirès had jinked his way down the left and pulled the ball back for the forward to crash a first-time shot into the roof of the net.
"It went into the top corner, but it could've just as easily gone out of the stadium," Trezeguet recalls. "The absolute madness of it. The idea [from France] to go all-out attack in extra time, then a superb goal."
Belgium 1-2 Italy
(Lukaku 45+2pen; Barella 31, Insigne 44)
2020 quarter-finals, Munich
It was billed as the stand-out last-eight tie and arguably the final opportunity for Belgium's golden generation to get their hands on some silverware, but the wily Azzurri ended those hopes.
The Red Devils initially looked the sharper side, despite the absence of the injured Eden Hazard. Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku both tested Gianluigi Donnarumma before Nicolò Barella made the breakthrough, wriggling through two challenges to fire a shot past Thibaut Courtois.
Lorenzo Insigne bent a glorious second past Courtois from the edge of the box and, although Lukaku pulled one back after Giovanni Di Lorenzo's foul on Jérémy Doku, Roberto Mancini's charges held firm after half-time to advance.
Other EURO fixtures on 2 July
2016 quarter-finals: Germany 1-1 Italy (aet, Germany won 6-5 on pens)
2020 quarter-finals: Switzerland 1-1 Spain (aet, Spain won 3-1 on pens)