The morning after the night before: England wakes up after dramatic Rumble in the Jungle
MANY England fans will be waking up with sore heads this morning after a night of late drinking as the Three Lions' World Cup campaign got off to a disappointing start.
Thousands of boozy fans spilled out into town centres in the early hours after Mario Balotelli's goal broke English hearts.
Some fans were spotted burning Italian flags in the street while ambulance staff spent much of the night transporting drunken fans to hospitals.
Italy are a good team, we know how they would play and they never surprised us
In Bedford, which has a strong Italian community, Azzurri flags were set alight while a smoke bomb was also set off.
Peter Eaton from Bedfordshire Police said his staff were aware of the flag burning incident.
He said: "This is being looked into by officers, but at this stage no arrests have been made.
"In the past we have had trouble when Italy have played England because Bedford has quite a large Italian population, but last night passed relatively problem free."
Despite fears of thousands of pubs staying open till the early hours most supporters made their way home safely after the game ended.
The audience for the 11pm kick-off in Manaus peaked at 15.6 million just before half-time, a 79% audience share, with more than 13 million watching to the final whistle, the BBC said.
England now face Uruguay in Sao Paulo on Thursday knowing another defeat could well spell the end of their campaign.
It was an encouraging performance from Roy Hodgson's men with youngsters Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge particularly impressive.
Sturridge pulled England level shortly after Juventus star Claudio Marchisio had put 2006 champions Italy ahead.
But early in the second-half former Manchester City star Balotelli headed home at the far post to flatten England's mood.
In one of the most bizarre incidents in World Cup history experienced England physio Gary Lewin was stretchered off shortly after Sturridge equalised.
The former Arsenal medic reportedly stepped on a bottle of water and has suffered a broken ankle.
It was a bad night too for BBC pundit Phil Neville, whose commentary was lambasted on social media as football fans lashed out at the former Manchester United man.
Mark Steel wrote: "If the entire stadium burns down, Phil Neville will mumble: 'Well, that's what flames can do. If they're not marked'."
Even South Warwickshire Police got in on the act tweeting: "At least we know Phil Neville won't stir the crowds in the pubs into a frenzy."
They later added: "Will be playing recordings of Phil Neville all night to keep the streets all calm and sleepy."
In totally over seven million tweets were sent during the match with a peak of 219,637 per minute after Sturridge equalised in the 37th minute.
The England team have now returned to their Rio de Janeiro base as they prepare to take on 2010 semi-finalists Uruguay.
The two-time World Cup winners suffered a shock 3-1 defeat to minnows Costa Rica, making Thursday's clash with England a must-win for both sides.