Off the Pitch: Euro 2020 – Day 10

While Wales unsuccessfully took on

and while Turkey were absolutely battered by

, much more went on off the pitch as social media was buzzing with news and discussions. From Ronaldinho and Sergio Ramos engaging in some online friendly banter, to Thierry Henry showing everyone his class on the training pitch and fans criticizing UEFA for its lack of support for the LGBT+ community, so much happened yesterday and we can’t wait to share them with you. So let’s move on and take a look at everything that went on yesterday.

Euro 2020 – Day 10 Review

What better way to start off your day other than seeing two football legends engage in an online banter? Let’s see how things went on day 10 of Euro 2020.

Remember me?

It’s always nice to see footballing legends reminisce about the good old days of football and sometimes engage in friendly banters with each other. It reminds us all of how good they used to be and how much we enjoyed watching them grace the pitch. That is why the world lost it when the Brazilian icon Ronaldinho tagged Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos in a picture of the two battling it out in El Clasico, with the caption saying: “Hey, Sergio Ramos, remember this night?” The former

forward obviously mocked Ramos in a friendly way as he had completely dominated the Spanish defender on that night.

Ronaldinho’s banter was simply amazing, but the response that came from Ramos was even better, as he tagged the Brazilian with a picture of the Real Madrid team celebrating their 30th La Liga title alongside thousands of fans, adding the caption: I do… but this one a few months later was way better. Even though Ronaldinho had absolutely humiliated Ramos in El Clasico, it was obviously the Real Madrid captain who got the last laugh as they won the league title.

Sadly for

supporters, however, it was recently announced that Sergio Ramos would be leaving the Spanish capital after spending 16 trophy-laden years with Los Blancos. The 35-year-old joined Real Madrid from Sevilla back in 2004 and has since made a total of 671 appearances for the Galacticos, scoring a brilliant number of 101 goals and providing 49 assists in the process, which has turned him into one of the most lethal defenders of all time.

The supportive captain

goalkeeper

and the German national team breathed a sigh of relief as UEFA decided to drop the investigations that were planned to be carried out over Neuer’s rainbow armband.

The German goalkeeper had worn a rainbow-colored captain’s armband during his two games at Euro 2020 and had attracted quite a lot of attention for it. While Neuer had been wearing the armband to show his support for the LGBTQ+ community, UEFA decided that the rainbow armband is a political symbol, whose use is prohibited by the federation as teams and players can’t demonstrate over political matters.

The decision to open an investigation into the goalkeeper’s armband proved to be too costly for UEFA as it outraged football fans and many familiar faces, who criticized UEFA for its lack of support for the LGBT+ community. Thankfully, though, after constant pressure from fans and the world’s most expensive female footballer Pernille Harder, UEFA decided to drop the investigations.

Harder used Twitter as her personal platform for seeking justice. She Tweeted: “Devastated to see that the Hungarian parliament passed new anti LGBT+ legislation this week criminalising education and advertising of LGBT content to young people. We, the LGBT+ community, are people. We are human beings. We deserve the right to be treated like everyone else.”

She also went on to add: “My thoughts are with the people of Hungary but especially the various LGBT communities in the country. The football world has another opportunity to step up. I hope that @UEFA will take this seriously and reconsider moving more Euros games to Budapest. Equal game?”

DFB press officer Jens Grittner had also shown his support by claiming: It is true that the captain's armband is being checked. We will also discuss this with UEFA. "The regulations state that the armband officially provided by UEFA must be worn. June is also a year of 'Pride' in sport to stand up for more diversity.”

He went on to add: “This year the DFB is participating with various campaigns. Manuel Neuer has been wearing the rainbow armband since the friendly against Latvia on June 7 as a symbol and clear commitment of the entire team to diversity, openness and tolerance and against hatred and exclusion. The message is: we are colourful! "

The controversial decision

Refereeing choices can at times be so controversial that football fans debate over it for even decades as these choices have the power of changing the tide of the game in one team or the other’s favor, completing altering the fate of both teams. That’s why many were outraged about referee Ovidiu Hategan’s decision to send off Ethan Ampadu for his challenge on

during the clash between Wales and Italy on matchday 3 of Euro 2020.

The incident was in fact checked again by VAR, but they decided that the decision to show Ampadu the red card was a correct one. Many were outraged about the decision as they slammed the match officials for their harsh and strict treatment of the player at fault. One fan even went on to say: “If that’s a red card, then football has gone. Shocking decision.”

Class never dies

They say that class never dies, and they are right. That is exactly what we saw when 

 legend, Thierry Henry, showed all of us, and also two of the greatest football players today, how it's done on the pitch! He simply showed Kevin De Bruyne and

how to take a proper free-kick as he sweetly bended the ball into the back of the net as the goalkeeper stood watching with admiration.

Not only did the Frenchman take a brilliant free-kick, he did so with his obviously weaker left foot, which made his attempt even more impressive. His exquisite goal was even shared on twitter by the Belgian Red Devils, the official Twitter account of the Belgian national team, as it showed Lukaku taking Henry’s hand and celebrating the goal he had just witnessed.

The former Arsenal player is considered to be one of the greatest strikers of all time and is currently active as an assistant coach for Belgium, where he has turned into an idol for Romelu Lukaku, who learns everything from the best.

He made a total of 791 club appearances throughout his illustrious career and managed to score a brilliant 360 goals and provide a massive 176 assists in the process. While the now 43-year-old did spend three years at Barcelona after moving to the Catalan club for €24 million, it was during his time at Arsenal that he became a Gunners legend and cemented his place in the footballing halls of fame.

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