It's no exaggeration to say that England vastly outperformed expectations at Euro 2020.
Despite having the advantage of playing in what essentially became a home tournament due to logistical issues caused by COVID-19, there were not many pundits who favoured the Three Lions to reach the final of the tournament.
That, though, is exactly what Gareth Southgate's men did, pulling off memorable victories against Germany, Ukraine and Denmark, before ultimately falling at the very last hurdle to Italy on penalties.
Italy win Euro 2020 (The Football Terrace)
Spot-kicks are a cruel - if necessary - way to decide the destination of a major international trophy. It was tough not to feel some sympathy for England as they lost out 3-2 in the shoot-out to Gli Azzurri after a hard-fought 120 minutes at Wembley.
One man, however, who absolutely does not share those sentiments is former German captain Lothar Matthaus. The 60-year-old, who won both the 1980 European Championships and 1990 World Cup with his country believes that England - and their fans - deserved their penalty heartache after some of their conduct in the tournament.
Writing for German outlet Bild, Matthaus had quite the list of reasons as to why he was happy to see England fail to land their first big prize in more than 55 years on Sunday evening.
"English fans were hostile to the little girl in the Germany jersey," began Matthaus, per the Daily Mail.
"They were whistling the opposing national anthems," he continued, before addressing the controversial decision that saw England book their place in the final.
ENTER GIVEAWAY
"Denmark's goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was blinded with a laser during a penalty that Raheem Sterling dived to get in the semi-finals," pointed out Germany's record appearance holder.
"Add to that the racist hostility towards their own players after the final. Dear Englishmen, that was unsportsmanlike behaviour that we did not know from you and never want to see again."
"So, sorry for the players but you deserve the trauma after the final was lost on penalties."
Matthaus' comments regarding the laser pen incident and racism incidents are valid, to a point. Of course, that sort of conduct is never acceptable - in football or otherwise.
However, it was a minority that disgraced themselves in that fashion - hardly representative of the nation at large. The same can be said for the disrespect shown during opposing national anthems.
As far as the penalty incident involving Sterling is concerned, yes it was soft. With that said, it was also double-checked by VAR, who saw no justification to overrule the referee's original decision. To outright accuse the Manchester City man of dishonesty is harsh.
Finally, while it was in poor taste for some England supporters to cheer a young Germany fan who was crying during the final moments of their last-16 match, plenty of good ended up coming from the incident. Over £36,000 was donated to UNICEF in her name, with many contributions coming from England fans.
Nobody will pretend there weren't occurrences that England would like to forget during Euro 2020, but to suggest that these completely outweigh the commitment and skill shown on the pitch across their seven fixtures does the Three Lions a disservice.