Tension and vandalism on the outskirts of Wembley

The hours prior to what should be a great and colorful football party, the end point to a great European Championship on the football level, were transformed by the ‘hooligans’ into tension, fear and vandalism. The supposed Olympic walk that connects the Wembley and Park tube station with the great temple of British football turned into an impassable road of terror.

In addition to skipping all the anticovid protocols, with crowds of people without masks, dozens of radicals under the influence of alcohol behaved like madmen. They set about throwing everything they could at passersby, from rocks, cans, beer bottles, to backpacks and signal cones. There were also attempted avalanches of violent fans without a ticket who tried to sneak into a venue with a capacity in the final of 65,000 spectators, the largest in the United Kingdom since the pandemic.

The pedestrian pathways were covered with debris and glass from broken bottles. Smoke, flares and a timid police presence … Going through there on the way to Wembley and five hours before the grand final between England and Italy began, it was like entering thousands of ultras. A danger that UEFA should not allow.

During the day, the atmosphere was already heated. While in the Wembley temple all the details were being finalized to lower the curtain of the Eurocup and in the Old Continent there are fears for the expansion of the Delta variant of the covid-19, London took to the streets to celebrate a great day. Thousands of young people gathered from the early hours of this Sunday in the pubs. Nothing better than starting the day with a typical English breakfast, based on fried eggs, bacon, sausages and a little tomato and mushroom to disguise the tribute to cholesterol, well washed down with pints of beer. The day was going to be long and the body was preparing for a marathon of alcohol, tobacco and other herbs, therapeutic or not.