LONDON — Penalties, again.
All that talk of bold new eras, all the research, all the plans, all the change of moods, and in the end it turned out Gareth Southgate’s England was undone by two very familiar failings: the tendency to drop deep in defense of a lead, and the inability to score in a shootout. And so Italy, having become the first side in European Championship history to win two penalty shootouts in the same tournament, was crowned European champion for a second time, and the first time since 1968, a 3–2 winner in the shootout following a 1–1 draw.