Police to step up security for England clash with Italy after awful Brussels terror attack
England will lock horns with Italy at Wembley tonight in their Euro 2024 qualifying match
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Police will step up security for tonight's Euro 2024 qualifying match between England and Italy at Wembley.
On Tuesday, fans watching Belgium lock horns with Sweden were kept inside the stadium after a terrorist attack nearby.
A gunman, who has since been apprehended by the authorities, opened fire roughly three miles away from the ground.
Two Sweden supporters were killed prior to kick off and, at first, the fixture in Belgium was allowed to go ahead.
Two Swedish football fans were killed by a gunman in Belgium on Monday night
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However, after players learned of the news, Sweden squad members made it clear they didn't want to play in the second half.
Now, Met Police have confirmed security will be beefed up prior to England's match with Italy tonight.
A statement read: "Given the events yesterday in Brussels, those attending the match can be reassured that they will see a highly visible policing presence.
"Officers are there to ensure the event passes off safely and provide reassurance to those attending."
England can move a step closer to qualifying for Euro 2024 with victory over Italy, who are the defending champions.
Gareth Southgate's side famously lost to Italy in the final of Euro 2021 two years ago.
However, since then, they've grown as a team and will fancy their chances of claiming all three points.
England have already done battle with Italy once this year, beating their rivals 3-2 in their Group C qualifying match back in March.
Declan Rice opened the scoring in the 13th minute, while Harry Kane scored his record-breaking 54th goal of his international career to secure victory.
England have won four of their five matches in qualifying so far, with a draw against Ukraine the only time they've failed to win.
Meanwhile, regarding the match in Belgium on Monday night, Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof has opened up and feels the game shouldn't resume.
Both sides went into the dressing room at half time after goals from Viktor Gyokeres and Romelu Lukaku.
Belgium are already qualified for Euro 2024, while Sweden won't be playing at the competition next summer.
And Lindelof feels scrapping the game would be the wisest outcome, saying: "Belgium are already qualified and we don't have the opportunity to get to the European Championship.
"So I see no reason to play [replay the game]."
Belgian FA CEO Manu Leroy has opened up on the decision for the contest to go ahead in the first place, explaining: "Ten minutes before the match, reports started coming in about what had happened around the stadium.
"In consultation with the security and order services, it was then announced whether we could start the match.
"After the first half, the captain of Sweden announced that they did not want to start the second half."
Leroy then proceeded to discuss how the stadium could be safely evacuated.
"The decision was made at the highest level at 11.45pm," he said.
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England beat Italy back in March with Harry Kane scoring the winner from the penalty spot
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"Stand by stand we looked at how we could best lead the people out.
"The Swedish fans received a police escort, the players left under police escort to the airport to fly back to their home country."
Sweden fans were kept inside the ground until 4am.
Supporters from both sides emotionally chanted 'all together, all together' while waiting for the green light to leave.
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