‘My reaction was to grab him… and I grabbed him good!’: Giorgio Chiellini laughs while recalling his infamous shirt pull on Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final and claims he had no choice but to do so after the England star ‘wriggled round’ him
- Giorgio Chiellini has recalled his shirt pull on Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final
- The veteran defender yanked Saka to the floor as he tried to launch a counter
- Saka went on to miss the decisive penalty as Italy got the better of England
- Chiellini has joked that he ‘grabbed him good’ a year on from the Wembley final
Giorgio Chiellini has taken a look back at his infamous shirt pull on Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final and laughed: ‘I grabbed him good!’
Italy got the better of England in last year’s Wembley showpiece, prevailing via the lottery of penalties following a 1-1 draw after normal and extra-time.
Before that, however, Chiellini left England fans furious when he pulled Saka down as the Arsenal star tried to race into the final third.
Giorgio Chiellini has recalled his infamous shirt pull on Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final
The streetwise defender first went to show the ball out of play on the touchline, only for Saka to sneak around him and steal possession.
But as he attempted to break in acres of space down the right flank, Chiellini produced a cynical foul to spare his blushes by yanking him to the ground.
England supporters were furious after seeing their beloved youngster pulled to the ground when trying to launch a counter-attack.
But the likes of John Terry and Jose Mourinho instead heaped praise on Chiellini, with the former branding him a ‘legend’.
Now almost one year on the Juventus icon has rewatched his shirt pull on Saka and conceded that he had no option but to commit the foul.
‘This became the symbol of Euro 2020 as a whole. The most heavily used meme of summer 2021,’ he said.
Chiellini yanked Saka to the ground as he tried to launch a counter-attack at Wembley
The veteran defender has joked that he ‘grabbed him good’ after being caught out on the ball
‘It was probably one of the only mistakes I made during the Euros. It was in the 90th minute and I’d read the flight of the ball, thinking I could shepherd it out of play when really I could have controlled it.
‘But I was convinced I could put my body between Saka and the ball and let it go out of play, but he wriggled round me.
‘When he wriggled round from behind and had that space to run into, my reaction was to grab him. And I grabbed him good!’
Saka went on to miss the decisive penalty in the shootout for England.
The other misses came from from Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, also costing the Three Lions a first major trophy since 1966.
Chiellini later claimed he put a curse on Saka before he stepped up from the spot, revealing he uttered the word ‘Kiricocho’ – a term that originates from South America which translated to ‘curse you’ or ‘jinx’.
Chiellini claimed last year that he put a curse on Saka before his decisive penalty miss
