It was a dramatic semi-final at Wembley Stadium: Italy defeated Spain on penalties at the 2021 European Championship. One fan, however, had other worries before the game – and his pizza message went viral.
Not only on paper, but also in reality it was an early final: The match between Italy and Spain, which the Italians won on penalties, was high-class and exciting right up to the end. Goosebumps included, especially after Jorginho’s decisive penalty. Because in the Italian curve, highly emotional scenes took place. Especially since the Wembley Stadium – despite the worrying coronavirus situation in Great Britain – was filled with almost 60,000 spectators.
Not only Giorgio Chiellini causes a stir
And while after the game many people laughed in front of the screens at Giorgio Chiellini’s hugging scene (read more about this here), the photo of an Italian fan who had brought a poster into the stadium went viral on Twitter after the final whistle. However, his message had nothing to do with football, he just wanted to let the whole of Europe know that he had a different demand on us: “Stop putting pineapple on pizza”, it read on his sign. Which translates to: “Stop putting pineapples on pizza.”
The photo appeared in multiple places on Twitter, but it was first shared by Alexander Brown, a correspondent and journalist with 180,000 followers. “Forza Italia”, he simply commented on – and thus collected around 25,000 interactions within the first 16 hours.
Brown was in the stadium with a colleague and documented it with a picture: The two were photographed with Italian fans and the corresponding banner:
Of course, because almost every person has an opinion on this fundamental culinary question, the discussion among the tweets was raging as to whether it was really a sin to put pineapple on a pizza. Other users countered with further provocative indulgence statements, such as: “Risotto is also better than paella.” Or pointed out how else one can deface Italian national dishes. For example, by serving spaghetti on toast. Or fried a pizza.
It is not yet known whether the fan will be back in the stadium with his poster on Sunday. But then, presumably, other signs and banners will also be in the spotlight. There was a foretaste of this yesterday in London. As expected, the Italian fans think little of the English “It’s coming home” hopes. And that’s why they had already prepared their own variant: “It’s coming home Rome!”
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
