The Lionesses beat La Roja 3-1 on penalties after drawing 1-1 in extra time to retain the European Championship.
Chloe Kelly scored the decisive spot kick as England beat Spain 3-1 in a penalty shootout to win Euro 2025, successfully defending the title they won three years ago after an enthralling encounter that ended 1-1 after extra time.
Spain dominated possession in Basel, Switzerland on Sunday and 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 faltering 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 England manager Sarina 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. The story continued through extra time as they probed and probed but could not break through the English defence as the game finished 1-1.
The Spaniards got the shootout off to a great start when Catalina Coll saved Beth Mead’s effort, but England keeper Hannah Hampton stepped up and saved from Caldentey and then 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 then fired 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 her team the title at Wembley.
Kelly made her trademark prancing run-up before smashing the ball into the net and peeling away in ecstasy to celebrate with the rest of the players 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.
Spain trailed for only four minutes in the entire tournament – and not for one second against England – yet could not seal their first European title.
The final was the first time since the inaugural edition in 1984 that the game was decided by a penalty shootout – a match in which England were beaten by Sweden.
Speaking to the BBC, England goalkeeper Hampton said: “This team is just unbelievable, incredible.
“We’ve shown throughout this tournament [that] we can come back when we go a goal down. We have that grit. We never say die – we just keep going, and we did that today.”
Source:
Al Jazeera and news agencies