Kelly the hero as England sink Spain in shootout to win Euro 2025
It was another spectacular turnaround from Sarina Wiegman's side, who came back from two goals down to beat Sweden in a shootout in the last eight and beat Italy in the semi-finals with another extra-time goal from Kelly.
World and Nations League Spain made the breakthrough in the 25th minute as Ona Batlle crossed and the England defence was caught flat-footed, allowing Mariona Caldentey to head the ball past Hannah Hampton.
With Lauren James struggling due to an ankle inury, England were struggling, but Kelly came off the bench to replace her just before the break and it proved an inspired substitution from Wiegman.
Kelly helped close down England's porous left flank and provided the cross for Alessia Russo to level in the 57th minute, the forward heading home her inch-perfect assist.
Spain continued to monopolise the ball but could not find another goal before the end of normal time, and the story continued through extra time as they probed and probed, but could not break the English defence as the game finished 1-1.
The Spaniards got the shootout off to a great start when Cata Coll stopped Beth Mead's effort, but England keeper Hannah Hampton saved from Caldentey and from Aitana Bonmati to put England in the driving seat.
Coll got Spain back into it with another one-handed stop to block Leah Williamson, but Spain substitute Salma Paralluelo hit her kick wide of the target.
That set the stage for Kelly to repeat her 2022 heroics, when she scored the extra-time winner over Germany that won them the title at Wembley.
KELLY PRANCING
Kelly made her trademark prancing run-up before smashing the ball into the net and peeling away in ecstasy to celebrate with her teammates in front of the England fans.
"I'm so proud, so proud of this team, so grateful to wear this badge, and I'm so proud to be English ... I was cool, I was composed and I knew I was going to hit the back of the net," Kelly said.
The final was the first time since the inaugural edition in 1984, in which England were beaten by Sweden, that the game was decided by a penalty shootout.
"Unbelievable, incredible, showing throughout this tournament we can come back when we go a goal down, and we have that grit. We've got English blood in us, so we never say die and we just keep going, and we did that today," an elated Hampton said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
New boss hails 'near-perfect race' from rejuvenated Lawson
Liam Lawson endured a miserable start to the Formula One season but eighth place at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday meant points for the third time in the last six races for the rejuvenated New Zealander. Brutally dumped by Red Bull and relegated to the Racing Bulls team after only two races, Lawson failed to register on the drivers' championship standings for the first seven rounds of the season. Sunday's race was delayed by 80 minutes due to wet weather but when it finally got underway, Lawson made the switch to dry tyres at just the right time and eased away from Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto to take another four points. Lawson, who had qualified ninth, was fully appreciative of the way the team's strategy worked out and is hungry for more points at Hungaroring next weekend. "I really enjoyed today. Often in those conditions you just want to survive, so I'm very happy for the team and how everything came together," the 23-year-old said. "It's always tricky when you cross over to a dry tyre when it's damp, but the car was fast and in clean air we had great pace. "We need to keep the momentum rolling forward and make sure we enter the summer break on a high." In keeping with what has been a chaotic year for the two Red Bull-owned outfits on the grid, Lawson was working under his third team boss of the season at Spa-Francorchamps. The sacking two weeks ago of Christian Horner, who had handed Lawson the Red Bull seat only to take it away, meant a promotion for Racing Bulls' team principal Laurent Mekies. Racing director Alan Permane, who has stepped into the breach as team principal at the junior team, could not have been happier with the way Lawson performed. "Liam had a near-perfect race, he managed his tyres exceptionally well, both on the intermediates and on the dry tyre," he said.
AsiaOne
4 hours ago
- AsiaOne
Bend It Like Beckham sequel in the works, Entertainment News
A Bend It Like Beckham sequel is in the works. The 2002 sports-drama movie — which starred Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra — is widely credited with inspiring a generation of women to play football, and director Gurinder Chadha thinks now is the perfect moment to launch a sequel. The 65-year-old filmmaker told the BBC: "We've been part of changing the game for women, so it felt like this was a good time for me to go back and investigate the characters." The England women's football team have enjoyed significant success in recent years and are currently preparing to take on Spain in the final of Euro 2025. Gurinder observed that attitudes towards women's football have changed since the first movie, but she admits that more progress is still needed. She said: "A lot has changed since the original movie, but I think that people still don't think that women should play football. "There are people who still don't take it seriously, although the Lionesses are riding high. "I've left it a while, but I thought, look at the Euros, look at the Lionesses." Gurinder hopes the sequel will spread a positive message and "challenge" stereotypes. The director explained: "What I did was say you can do what you want, and you can have it all, and I think that's a really great message to put out again. I think there's still stuff to say, and stuff to challenge." Bend It Like Beckham proved to be a big moment in Keira Knightley's career, but the actress previously revealed that her friends scoffed at the idea of making the movie. During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Keira told host Jimmy Fallon: "I literally remember telling people I was doing it and it's called Bend It Like Beckham, and them going, 'Oh that's really embarrassing'. And they were all like, 'Don't worry. Nobody will see it. It's fine.'" The actress noted that "women's football was not as big" in 2002 as it is now, and so her friends assumed that the movie would flop at the box office. She said: "Women's football was not as big back then, and so the idea of the whole thing was sort of ridiculous." Despite this, the film proved its doubters wrong, earning more than US$70 million (S$89.6 million) at the box office and even inspiring a musical adaptation of the movie. And Keira — who also starred in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise — is still constantly reminded of her role in the movie by fans. She said: "It's amazing because it's still the film even today, you know, if someone comes up to talk to me about my work, it's that one. It's so loved. It's amazing." [[nid:720616]]
Straits Times
9 hours ago
- Straits Times
Wiegman hails most chaotic tournament ever
BASEL, Switzerland - Sarina Wiegman broke into a celebratory dance when Chloe Kelly struck the winning penalty in Sunday's shootout to help England clinch a second consecutive Women's Euros title, capping a wild ride that the coach called the most chaotic tournament ever. The 55-year-old, who is under contract with England through 2027, had already made history by becoming the first football manager to coach in five consecutive major tournament finals. Euro 2025 proved to be a roller-coaster of emotions for Wiegman, with England fighting back to win all three knockout games in extra time or a shootout, including the final in which they beat world champions Spain 3-1 on penalties after the match ended in a 1-1 draw. "This has been the most chaotic tournament, from the first game there was chaos … turns out we love football chaos!" a jubilant Wiegman said. Asked how she plans to celebrate, she said: "Maybe with some more dancing. I might have a drink but I will not be drinking as much as the players." Wiegman's players had raved about her motivational speeches throughout the tournament, and she must have delivered another memorable one on Sunday. "The main message was enjoy it," said Wiegman, who completed a hat-trick of Euro triumphs on Sunday having also guided her native Netherlands to the 2017 title. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Sewage shaft failure linked to sinkhole; PUB calling safety time-out on similar works islandwide Singapore Tanjong Katong Road sinkhole did not happen overnight: Experts Singapore Workers used nylon rope to rescue driver of car that fell into Tanjong Katong Road sinkhole Asia Singapore-only car washes will get business licences revoked, says Johor govt World Food airdropped into Gaza as Israel opens aid routes Sport Arsenal beat Newcastle in five-goal thriller to bring Singapore Festival of Football to a close Singapore Benchmark barrier: Six of her homeschooled kids had to retake the PSLE Asia S'porean trainee doctor in Melbourne arrested for allegedly filming colleagues in toilets since 2021 "We've got so far now in this tournament. I think we all created something again together. So these are the moments where you dream of, well some couldn't even dream of because it wasn't possible when they were little kids. "But go out there and enjoy it and play your very best game." There was controversy in the weeks leading up to the tournament after Euro 2022 winning goalkeeper Mary Earps announced her international retirement. She had recently lost her starting job to Hannah Hampton. But Hampton was brilliant in Switzerland, including in the two shootouts and was named player of the match on Sunday after saving two penalties from Spanish players and making several other key saves. "Every player has their one story and journey and hers has been incredible," Wiegman said. "Starting the tournament and losing the first game, there was so much riding on every game, we had five finals. She had to step up and I think she has been amazing. "It's a little bit like a fairytale to stop those two penalties (during the shootout) in the final." England lost their opening game to France, but preached about confidence and not giving up since that night, and their tournament was a remarkable show of resilience. They led for a total of just four minutes through their three knockout matches. "It's been incredible," Wiegman said. "Around in the camp, the training sessions, everything about the team was very calm. "Just the games were chaotic and very close and tight and we were behind in a lot of games. We lost the first game, but then afterwards it was all very calm." Michelle Agyemang, the 19-year-old who scored late goals in the quarter-final and semi-final, won the Young Player of the Tournament award. REUTERS
