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England star Lucy Bronze gives Lionesses their grit, her nan says

England star Lucy Bronze gives Lionesses their grit, her nan says

BBC News24-07-2025
Lioness star Lucy Bronze provides her teammates with the "grit and determination" they need during tough matches, according to her nan.Gloria Stapleton said she was incredibly proud of her granddaughter for helping her team win their Euro 2025 semi-final match, which saw England beat Italy in extra time.The 89-year-old said Bronze, who is from Berwick in Northumberland, was an inspiration for her teammates and helped them to keep going during tough matches."She gives them that extra something that they need," she said, adding: "They see it in her and she passes it on to them somehow."
Mrs Stapleton said she was "very tense" while watching the semi-final, which saw England take the match into extra time after scoring in the 96th minute.
She said Bronze's determination was a trait she inherited from her family."We've all got that drive and determination that means you can't let things happen, you have to make them happen," she said.
Bronze's brother, Jorge Bronze, has flown out to Zurich to watch the Lionesses play but said the tournament had not been an easy watch."Tournament football as a family member is not about enjoying yourself, it's always traumatic," he told BBC Radio Newcastle."I think they [England] have tried to keep that spirit of pure trauma throughout in this one."But he said after the Lionesses' turbulent run, he would not mind the tournament ending with a dramatic final."You know what, let's have penalties," he said. "Let's go through it again."
Mrs Stapleton does not quite share her grandson's feelings about the final and admitted she was "terrified" for Sunday's game."But if they have a good game, play well and they play together as a team, that satisfies me," she said.However, Mrs Stapleton said she would not mind if her granddaughter's team pulled off another close win."I would like to think, that whatever the score is, England get one more," she said."That would satisfy me absolutely brilliantly."England will face Spain in Sunday's final at 17:00 BST.
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