Sun front page urging England to do an ‘Italian Job’ on Ukraine mocked because movie ends in failure

The Sun has been mocked for a front cover about football that scored an own goal in a number of ways.

The tabloid was attempting to fire up fans as the England team head into the quarter-final Euro 2020 game against Ukraine on Saturday. With a nod to the classic movie starring Michael Caine, they claimed England captain Harry Kane was going to “do an Italian Job on Ukraine”.

But clearly nobody in the office had watched the film, which is a comedy caper about a British gang attempting - and, crucially, failing - to steal gold from Italy. It also has no link to Ukraine and ends with the gang stuck in a car on a cliff with the gold, hanging precariously over the edge.

Is this what the Sun wants for the England team during the quarter-final game? Really? Probably not.

And reacting to the cover, the mockery rolled in:

People pointed out that the Italian Job is set in - you guessed it - Turin in Italy, not Ukraine, or even Rome, where the match will take place, and so the joke didn’t make sense:

Others pointed out that the film ends in failure:

More people pointed out that the medley of cultural references were difficult to unpack. Michael Caine starred in the film, which is why they have spelled Kane as Caine, and Madness released a song in 1984 called “(My name is) Michael Caine”, hence The Sun making Kane do a strange quote and decking him out in glasses and a suit.

Look, there’s a lot going on here and none of it makes sense.

We just hope the England team are better at their jobs than the production team at The Sun.