Three Lions icons Baddiel and Skinner loving life at Wembley for Germany clash
Three Lions singers David Baddiel and Frank Skinner were among the 40,000 spectators that attended Wembley for England's Euro 2020 last 16 clash against Germany.
The duo, who will have heard their 1996 song with the Lightning Seeds played over the speakers before kick-off, looked delighted to be back together for the crunch encounter.
Baddiel wrote on Twitter: "So…it’s been a while since we were here for this particular fixture."
Gareth Southgate and his side went into the clash after topping their group with seven points, keeping three clean sheets in the process against Croatia, Scotland and Czech Republic.
The first-half proved to be a mixed encounter for the hosts, with Harry Maguire and Harry Kane missing good chances as Germany threatened with the pace of Timo Werner.
Southgate had chosen to change formations for the fixture to match the wing-backs of Germany, with Kieran Trippier and Luke Shaw preferred with Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling on the wings.
Baddiel and Skinner would no doubt have been left nervous by some of the first-half, with Kane missing a golden chance as he opted to round Manuel Neuer before being stopped by Mats Hummels.
Baddiel spoke about the single as its popularity rose again this summer, and unsurprisingly stated that it is a song about England's losses throughout the years.
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He told the Standard: "The song has undeniably lasted a long time. I get the sense that people now think of it as kind of football’s version of Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody.
"It isn’t, in one important way. Christmas does actually happen every year. Whereas the England team playing well, not so much. Noddy Holder isn’t dependent on Gareth Southgate finally deciding to play Jack Grealish for his royalties.
"The longevity I would put down to two things: the music, and the lyrics (see what I did there?). Ian’s (Broudie) extraordinary musicality created a melody that was already full of yearning and sadness and hope, and Frank and I went in the same direction.
"We wanted to write a song about the real experience of being a football fan, which is not, with the greatest respect to various previous anthems, that we’re going to win it, this time, more than any other time, but more likely that we’re going to lose.
"Three Lions is a song about loss: about the fact that England mainly lose. We as fans — as English people — invest an enormous amount in the idea of England, and then, as experience suggests, England let you down.
"We know this and yet we still — as the 98 version put it — believe. Football fandom is this, it’s magical thinking, it’s hope over experience."
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