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The Sun
9 minutes ago
- The Sun
Marcus Rashford gets into the action on Barcelona debut as he comes on at half time – but gets subbed after 33 minutes
MARCUS Rashford gets into the action on his Barcelona debut yesterday — after coming out at half-time for just 33 minutes. The Three Lions striker, on a season-long loan from Man Utd, became the first Englishman to play for the Spanish giants since Gary Lineker between 1986 and 1989. 3 3 Legend Lineker said: 'I expect Marcus will do well.' Rashford, 27, helped Barca to a 3-1 victory in a friendly in Japan against local team Vissel Kobe. We recently revealed how Rashford has has rekindled his relationship with former fiancée Lucia Loi. She was with him when he signed for FC Barcelona. The Three Lions ace, 27, and childhood sweetheart Lucia, 26, were together during a photoshoot before he was unveiled as the Catalan giants' latest signing at the Camp Nou stadium. She took his photo, then moved behind him to take another and seemingly checked his shirt before the Man United exile posed beside a traditional red British phone box. Rashford was later seen emerging from the kiosk in a post on FC Barcelona's social media, captioned: 'Hello? Barca? For sure, I'm coming.' The Sun understands that Rashford has asked calming influence Lucia, who works in PR, to help him settle in to life in Spain so he can focus on his football. But they were not seen together until they were unwittingly snapped preparing for his phone box stunt. A source said the pair have stayed close, despite their 2022 engagement fizzling out, and have grown close again of late.
Sky News
9 minutes ago
- Sky News
Lionesses praised after winning Women's Euros - with bus parade confirmed this week
England fans across the country have heaped praise on the team after winning Euro 2025, with a bus parade celebration set for Tuesday. Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses took home their second Euros trophy in consecutive tournaments after beating Spain 3-1 on penalties in the final. Chloe Kelly scored the winning spot-kick following two huge saves from goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, after Alessia Russo scored an equaliser to send the game to a shootout. 2:21 After England win, it was announced that an open-top bus parade will be held in London on Tuesday along The Mall, which will start at 12.10pm. The celebrations will culminate in a stage ceremony at the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace at approximately 12.30pm Fans can attend for free, and Sky News will broadcast it live. 'You've made the nation proud' - Starmer Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was among the millions congratulating the Lionesses, posting on social media to praise the champions "What a team. What a game. What drama," he said. "You dug deep when it mattered most and you've made the nation proud. History makers." The roof almost came off the Manchester clubhouse where Ella Toone started her journey Greg Milam Chief North of England correspondent @GregMilamSky Nowhere was the roar for the Lionesses louder than in the Astley and Tyldesley Miners Welfare club on the outskirts of Manchester. The club where a five-year-old Ella Toone started her journey to England stardom, like so many places across the country, hosted nail-biting, table-thumping and, ultimately, deafening watch parties. The roof almost came off the clubhouse when Chloe Kelly's winning penalty went in. Red bucket hats emblazoned with Toone's now-famous 'Buzzing My Head Off' catchphrase were thrown in the air. "Absolutely ecstatic," said Lorraine Warwick-Ellis, who runs the pathway development for women and girls at the club. "I was very nervous, very worried about penalties but we did it in the end." The success of the Lionesses has driven a huge boom in the popularity of women's and girls football in recent years. She hopes this win will have a similar effect. "I hope it cements the girls who are already here, keeps them engaged, and I hope it brings more girls down who want to be footballers and see that it's open for everybody." It had been a pretty sombre watch for much of the game after Spain took the lead - but it erupted into life after Alessia Russo's equaliser. The shootout was the usual emotional rollercoaster but young fans seem to have greater faith in the Lionesses. Among the jubilant teenagers celebrating in the clubhouse were two who have followed Toone's path to academies at professional clubs. "It's unbelievable, they're amazing, Chloe Kelly, I just don't know what to say about her," said Natasha Greenhouse. "We knew if it went to penalties that they'd do it." Tamsin Gallagher said: "They've done it the hard way all the way through the Euros but we all believed in them. Come on England." The party in Manchester and around the country and only just begun. 16:49 Prince William and Princess Charlotte, who were in attendance at St Jakob-Park in Basel, added on social media: "What a game! "Lionesses, you are the champions of Europe and we couldn't be prouder of the whole team. Enjoy this moment England." King hails Lionesses... and calls for World Cup In a post on the official Royal Family account on X, King Charles also sent his "most heartfelt congratulations on winning the Euros 2025" to the Lionesses. "For more years than I care to remember, England fans have sung that famous chant 'football's coming home'," he said. "As you return home with the trophy you won at Wembley three years ago, it is a source of great pride that, through sporting skill and awesome teamwork, the Lionesses have made those words ring true. "For this, you have my whole family's warmest appreciation and admiration. More than that, though, you have shown through your example over past weeks that there are no setbacks so tough that defeat cannot be transformed into victory, even as the final whistle looms." The monarch ended his statement by saying "the next task is to bring home the World Cup in 2027 if you possibly can!" Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy added: "What an absolutely extraordinary achievement by our Lionesses - once again they have made history and united the country with pride and joy."
The Guardian
9 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Euros win one of the most magnificent heists in the history of English sport
They thought it was all over. Quite a few times, in fact. Written off after their opening game against France; knocked to the canvas in their quarter-final against Sweden; behind with seconds remaining of their semi-final against Italy; a goal down against the world champions in the final. England have cheated death so many times in Switzerland this month to have become basically uninsurable. But these Lionesses are also escapologists. And on a breezy night in Basel it was once again the strains of Sweet Caroline playing over the stadium sound system. Once again Leah Williamson holding aloft the European Championship trophy. Victory was secured on penalties against Spain, the final plot twist of what will surely be remembered as one of the most magnificent heists in the history of English sport. So the three years of hurt are over. And in so doing Sarina Wiegman's side have secured what no other football team from these islands have managed to secure: a dynasty. An enduring record of excellence, a reputation for guts and grace under pressure that will sustain English football for generations to come. New stars in Hannah Hampton and Michelle Agyemang. And if victory three summers ago was a project blown to fruition by the happy winds of home advantage, this was a triumph earned in the teeth of a roaring gale. Has there ever been a team so comfortable in adversity, so nonchalant in the face of certain disaster, so accustomed to a state of emergency? Even if at times their difficulties have been self-inflicted, there is also a richly stirring quality to the way England have calmly picked their way through every obstacle placed in their path. Whatever has been required – last-minute winners, desperate tactics, the nation of Sweden suddenly forgetting en masse how to take a penalty – somehow they have mustered it. And so at a quarter to eight local time, Chloe Kelly of Arsenal stood over her final assignment. For Kelly, the scorer of the iconic winning goal at Wembley in 2022, in particular this has been a scarcely believable narrative arc: frozen out by her club Manchester City, dropped by Wiegman in February, and yet ending the season a Champions League winner with Arsenal. This summer she has been England's ace in the pack, coming off the bench against tired defences and totally changing the dynamics of the game. Here, Kelly was introduced shortly before the end of a first half in which England were again sinking fast. Mariona Caldentey had scored the opening goal for Spain, the culmination of an exquisite and very Spanish move: almost a minute of patient passing, clever baiting and sneaky decoy runs, finished with a bullet header. This is the deadly delight of Spain in microcosm: the ability to bide their time, keep you guessing, keep you chasing, and of course keep the ball in the process. How do you counter it? Two years ago, at the World Cup final in Sydney, England had no answers. But Arsenal's unlikely Champions League triumph over Barcelona in May had offered a template: patience and composure to keep the ball under pressure, restless aggression to win it back. For much of the first half, England had been the reverse: too frenetic in possession, too passive out of it. Lauren James, patently unfit, was replaced with Kelly, and immediately England had a more direct threat on the left flank. Which created space further back. Keira Walsh had been tightly marked by the great Alexia Putellas all game, but when Putellas failed to follow her, Walsh had time to turn and find Georgia Stanway on the edge of midfield. Stanway found Kelly, and her cross was met by a quite remarkable header by Alessia Russo: off balance, leaping away from goal, a neck of wrought iron, a forehead like an anvil, a goal of pure training and pure technique and above all pure longing. It was 57 minutes and England were level. Overall this was one of the best games of the tournament in terms of quality. There were great performances all over the field: from Williamson and Stanway and Russo and Walsh and the restored Jess Carter and Hampton in goal. Yet Spain, driven by the magnificent Aitana Bonmatí and Patri Guijarro in midfield, carried on creating: a tally of 22 shots to eight a measure of their attacking supremacy, a reminder of England's reliance on scrambling defence, blocks and saves, grapples and ricochets and occasionally blind luck. Salma Paralluelo's miss from two yards in extra time was the moment that will haunt Spain's players well into the early hours. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion And so, with a kind of grim inevitability, to penalties. But without the foreboding that has stalked so many English teams of the past: under the leadership of Wiegman, England had never lost on penalties in three shootouts. The victory over Sweden last week – albeit one strongly tinged with farce – was still fresh in the memory. And here again, against a team convinced they should have won in regular time, England believed harder, stayed calmer, treated the shootout as an experience to be relished and not survived. Beth Mead missed the opening penalty. Well, it wouldn't be 'proper England' without a little intrigue. Hampton, a goalkeeper enjoying a breakthrough tournament, saved from Caldentey and Bonmatí to give England the edge. Williamson put her penalty too close to Cata Coll. Paralluelo slammed hers wide. And so here we were again: Kelly with the ball, all alone in this great green pasture, every eye on her, just as she likes it. Kelly had missed against Italy. Somehow she was never going to miss here. The penalty disappeared into the top corner, and somehow Kelly disappeared with it: into the great green beyond, swamped by white shirts and the good tidings of a grateful nation. And in these past three years women's football in England has catapulted itself into the mainstream. The players are cover stars; big stadiums sell out year on year; the long reactionary tail of cynicism and misogyny has been silenced. And of course for all its adhesive, addictive qualities women's football is still not a perfect sport, still a place occasionally riven by tribalism and inequality, plagued by issues of representation and access. Still, anyone who was at Wembley three years ago for that first great awakening could be forgiven for wondering how that experience could ever be matched; how these players could ever summon the vivid adrenaline highs of that afternoon. As it turned out: it was so nice, they had to do it twice.
