UEFA has responded to a video appearing on social media of an England fan seemingly waking up at the Arena AufSchalke the morning after the Three Lions’ 1-0 win over Serbia.
On Sunday, England claimed a 1-0 win over Serbia in their opening game of Euro 2024, courtesy of a 13th-minute Jude Bellingham goal.
Despite the victory, however, the Three Lions’ performance has received criticism from swathes of the UK-based media amid Harry Kane and Phil Foden struggling to impose themselves on proceedings.
Ultimately it was a long albeit successful evening for Southgate’s men. However, it seems to have been an even longer night for one England fan, should claims on social media be believed.
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On Monday a video emerged on social media of a fan appearing to have woken up at an empty Arena AufSchalke at 4am.
In the clip, the groggy supporter, while panning his camera to the empty stadium, said: “F***ing hell. It’s four o’clock in the morning.”
However, on the claim that the person in question was an England fan waking up the morning after the Three Lions' win, UEFA told SPORTbible: "It is evident that this video was not recorded during the tournament or even in recent weeks due to lack of UEFA EURO 2024 signage, branding and protocol elements in the stadium.
"In addition, there are no line markings on the pitch, which would be visible if the video was indeed recorded in the hours after the match."
Supporters on social media, unaware the video is likely to have originated from a different time-period, were quick to make light of the situation.
One person, writing on X, formally Twitter, joked: “F*** it stay until the next game now.”
A second added: “That's a proper away day though.”
A third wrote: “This is funny. He was still enjoying the match even after the match.”
A fourth added: “The match must be so boring that he slept.”
A fifth said: “Not even his friends wanted to wake him up.”
England’s next game in Group C will be on Thursday against Denmark, who drew their opening encounter 1-1 with Slovenia.
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Topics: England, Euro 2024, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Harry Kane, Fan Reactions
Chris Byfield