England completed their incredibly dramatic run to the Euro 2025 title on Sunday, beating Spain on penalties to avenge defeat in the World Cup final
Throughout the knockout stages of the 2025 European Championship, it felt like England were being propelled forward by something intangible, some sort of fate or destiny that had their name on this trophy already and was helping them to escape the jaws of defeat time and time again. On Sunday, anyone who held that feeling throughout the crazy lows was validated, as the Lionesses came from behind once more to beat Spain in the final, emerging as 3-1 victors in the penalty shootout after the score remained at 1-1 after extra-time.
This result didn’t feature England’s most miraculous stunt in a portfolio that any great escapologist would be proud of. That was probably in the quarter-finals, when the Lionesses were 2-0 down with 11 minutes to play, only to score twice in three minutes to stay alive, before surviving a penalty shootout that saw Sweden miss two spot-kicks that, if scored, would’ve sent Sarina Wiegman’s side home.
What happened in the semi-finals ran that close, though. England were just two minutes away from elimination when Michelle Agyemang equalised, and then Chloe Kelly converted the rebound of her saved penalty in the penultimate minute of extra-time to break Italy’s hearts in dramatic fashion. To recount all that knockout stage drama is to make England’s win on Sunday seem pretty uneventful, actually. But that is because the route to a second-successive European title has just been so extraordinary.
The Lionesses were up against it once more in the big finale. As was the case in the last eight and the last four, the opposition scored first, as Mariona Caldentey gave Spain the lead with a fantastic header midway through the first half. However, parity was restored just before the hour by Alessia Russo, and things were relatively even from there on, with both teams having decent spells. The majority of the big chances, though, fell to Spain – and the more missed opportunities that came and went, the more that familiar feeling of England being destined to triumph grew stronger.
Perhaps the word ‘inevitable’ would be best to describe the Lionesses’ latest success, an adjective that could be used in the case of two of the main instigators of their success. One of them is Wiegman, who has now won the last three editions of the Euros; the other is Kelly, who was the hero in the final of Euro 2022 and assumed the main character role again here, assisting Russo’s equaliser before thumping the winning penalty into the top corner in the shootout.
As she exuded cool with her celebration, wheeling away to celebrate with a ‘calm down’ gesture, everyone else associated with the Lionesses provided the wild scenes that soon engulfed their queen of the pressure moment. England are European champions again, despite all the bumps in the road they have had to ride out and all the obstacles they have had to swerve in order to lift that trophy for the second time in succession. No senior England side had ever won a major tournament on foreign soil before. It’s little surprise, though, that a group with as much resilience as this one was able to claim that piece of history.
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