Johnson makes Germany football jibe as he rules out cutting Wembley attendance

The Prime Minister was speaking during a press conference at Chequers with his counterpart Angela Merkel.
Fans leave Wembley stadium following the UEFA Euro 2020 round of 16 match between England and Germany at the 4TheFans fan zone outside Wembley Stadium (Zac Goodwin/PA)
PA Wire
Ryan Hooper2 July 2021

Boris Johnson teased Angela Merkel on England’s Euro 2020 victory over Germany as he ruled out the prospect of further reducing Wembley attendances for the remaining matches at the stadium.

The Prime Minister joked that Germany had broken with its “tradition” of beating England in football tournaments, following the historic 2-0 victory for the Three Lions in the last-16 match at Wembley on Tuesday evening.

Noting Mrs Merkel’s 22 visits to the UK during her time in power, the Prime Minister told a press conference following their meeting at his Chequers residence: “In the course of that time some things have changed beyond recognition but for much of your tenure it was certainly a tradition, Angela, for England to lose to Germany in international football tournaments.

England v Germany – UEFA Euro 2020 – Round of 16 – Wembley Stadium
PA Wire

“I’m obviously grateful to you for breaking with that tradition, just for once.”

Mrs Merkel said the result was “deserved”, but admitted it made her country “a little bit sad”.

She said: “Obviously this was not a voluntary offer on my side to create the right mood for this visit but I have to accept it.”

Mrs Merkel also said her government expressed “grave concern” at the number of supporters attending Euro 2020.

Angela Merkel visit to UK
PA Wire

She said: “I have said this to the Prime Minister.”

“I’m very much concerned whether it (the number of supporters at games) is not a bit too much.”

There were more than 40,000 supporters at Wembley for the England-Germany game.

But Mr Johnson said he had no plans to further restrict the capacity for the remaining games at the stadium, including the two semi-finals and the final.

He said: “Of course we will follow the scientific guidance, the advice if we receive any such suggestion.

“But, at the moment, the position is very clear in the UK.

England v Germany – UEFA Euro 2020 – Round of 16 – Wembley Stadium
PA Wire

“We have certain events we can put on in a careful and controlled manner with testing of everybody who goes there.

“There in the UK we have built up a very considerable wall of immunity against the disease by our vaccination programme.”

He echoed the sentiments of Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, who warned it was important people “do not forget to be careful”.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in