‘You can all hold your heads high’: Reaction to England’s ‘heartbreaking’ result

Published

4 years ago

July 11, 2021

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England have been hailed as heroes who should be “so proud” of themselves for their efforts in reaching their first major final in more than half a century.

In a nail-biting final of the Euros, the Three Lions faced an agonising defeat in a penalty shootout at Wembley.

Prince William, who was at the match with the Duchess of Cambridge and their son Prince George, urged the players to “hold your heads high”.

In a tweet from the KensingtonRoyal account, signed W, the Duke of Cambridge congratulated the Italian football team on their win.

He wrote: “Heartbreaking. Congratulations @Azzurri on a great victory. @England, you’ve all come so far, but sadly this time it wasn’t our day. You can all hold your heads high, and be so proud of yourselves – I know there’s more to come.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was also at the match with his wife Carrie, tweeted: “That was a heartbreaking result to end #Euro2020 but Gareth Southgate and his @England squad played like heroes.

“They have done the nation proud and deserve great credit.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sent his commiserations to a team that demonstrates “the very best of our country”.

He tweeted: “Heartbreaking. On and off the pitch, this team is the very best of our country. They’ve done us proud.”

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey wrote: “Amazing team, amazing tournament, very proud”.

Liam Gallagher and Stephen Fry were among the stars sending commiserations to the England team.

Oasis singer Gallagher sent a message of support to 19-year-old Bukayo Saka, who took the final penalty, which was saved by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

He tweeted simply: “Love saka.”

He added: “It’s all good Bruv I love you kid we go and smash the World Cup. It is what it it is.”

Fry wrote : “Alright, football gods, I’ll wait another 55 years then. But I warn you, unless biotech comes up with something impressive, I’ll fairly certainly be dead…

“Bah, grr, poo and bother.”

Singer Rebecca Ferguson tweeted: “Well done England and congratulations Italy It was a close game and the players played well!

“Sending love to our England team, you did us all proud Don’t feel down everybody is proud of you.”

Singer Adele watched the final from the US and shared a picture showing her in her England shirt after the game.

“You did us so proud!” Adele wrote. “You brought our game home and brought us all together.”

Dua Lipa said she was watching the game during a video shoot and shared a picture of her impromptu set up.

After Italy had been declared champions, the pop star posted a picture of Saka and wrote: “All the boys made us so proud!!!!! Well done on such a great game!

“We love you England we’ll bring it home soon enough.”

Actor Idris Elba shared a picture of Saka while model Jourdan Dunn posted snaps of all the players who failed to score a penalty, as well as Raheem Sterling, and wrote: “KINGS.”

Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, shared a selfie of him looking blue in his England shirt and wrote: “YeUgGHhh.”

He also congratulated Italy.

UK

Liverpool win Premier League title to equal Man Utd’s record

Published

4 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Liverpool win Premier League title to equal Man Utd's record

Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.

Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.

It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.

However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.

In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.

The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.

But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.

“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”

Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.

He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.

Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”

Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.

Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.

Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.

It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.

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UK

Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Published

10 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.

The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.

A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.

The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.

They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.

A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.

Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.

There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.

More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.

Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.

“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”

The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.

The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.

UK

Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week’s council elections

Published

15 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week's council elections

Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out forming coalitions at a local level with Reform after the council elections next week.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Conservative leader did however categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.

“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she said.

However, she did not deny that deals could be struck with Reform at a local level, arguing that some councils might be under no overall control and in that case, “you have to do what is right for your local area”.

“You look at the moment, we are in coalition with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she said. “We’ve been in coalition with Labour before at local government level.

“They [councillors] have to look at who the people are that they’re going into coalition with and see how they can deliver for local people.”

She added: “What I don’t want to hear is talks of stitch-ups or people planning things before the results are out. They have to do what is right for their communities.”

A total of 23 councils are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Thursday 1 May – mostly in places that were once deemed Tory shires, until last year’s general election.

It includes 14 county councils, all but two of which have been Conservative-controlled, as well as eight unitary authorities, all but one of which are Tory.

Ms Badenoch has set expectations low for the Tories, suggesting they could lose all the councils they are contesting.

The last time this set of councils were up for election was in 2021, when the Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson who was riding high from the COVID vaccine bounce.

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