England and penalty shoot-outs at major tournaments are the stuff that nightmares are made of.
The 2018 World Cup notwithstanding, there have been a litany of failures when a game involving the Three Lions hasn’t been settled after extra time.
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Gareth Southgate will know that only too well after his spot-kick was saved at Euro 96, allowing Germany to triumph 6-5 and go on to lift the trophy.
As the game against Denmark in the Euro 2020 semi-final went into another 30 minutes, you could feel the tension of almost 60,000 English supporters inside Wembley Stadium willing the game to be settled – in England’s favour – before the dreaded lottery.
The same will apply to the final when England face a monumental task of stopping a wonderful Italian side.
They’ll likely need to do so within 90 minutes or, at the very least in extra-time.
That’s because, according to the Daily Mail, Gianluigi Donnarumma, a gigantic goalkeeping presence for the Italians at six foot five, has always finished on the winning side, for club or country, if a match has needed to be decided by spot-kicks.
Let battle commence!