WHILE most football fans were morose on Monday morning one local resident is over the moon with Sunday night's result.
Liliana Ansell, 71, of Haywards Heath, has celebrated two of Italy’s big wins since she moved to the UK and the win at the Euros on Sunday has made it a third.
Liliana, born in Rome, moved to Brighton permanently in 1985 and married an Englishman before moving to Haywards Heath.
She said: “I love football, I support so many national teams because I have family all over, but Italy is always my number one.”
Her daughter and two grandchildren live in France, she has not been able to see them for 18 months due to Covid.
Italy won the World Cup in 1982 when Liliana was visiting Brighton and she was thrilled she featured in the newspaper that week.
Then in 2006 she and her husband watched the final with Italian snacks and champagne in their living room, but Liliana said he was never bitter that her team kept winning.
"I didn't know whether to pull out the bottle of champagne or a box of tissues for him sometimes" she said.
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Liliana was delighted with the result on Sunday but could not help feeling sorry for the England team.
"It's terrible to win through penalties, I would always rather win through game play," she said.
The 71-year-old speaks five languages and worked previously at American Express then as a doctor’s receptionist before retirement.
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