Chloe Kelly scored a dramatic late winner in extra-time as reigning champions England came from behind to beat Italy 2-1 and reach the Women’s Euro 2025 final.
The Lionesses had been on the brink of elimination on Tuesday as they trailed to Barbara Bonansea’s first-half strike for the surprise semifinalists Italy in Geneva.
But after their remarkable comeback from two goals down to beat Sweden on penalties in last week’s quarterfinal, they pulled off more heroics here.
Michelle Agyemang came off the bench and forced the extra period by equalising in the 96th minute, while fellow substitute Kelly completed the turnaround by following in to score the winner in the 119th minute after her penalty had been saved.
Sarina Wiegman’s team are through to their third consecutive major tournament final. The 2022 European champions head to Basel for Sunday’s showpiece.
That will be either a repeat of the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, which they lost to Spain, or a repeat of the last Euro final, in which they defeated Germany at Wembley – those sides meet in their semi on Wednesday.
It has been quite a ride for England, with this victory following their comeback to beat Sweden in the last eight, while the nature of the defeat for Italy was cruel.
Many of their players were in tears at full-time, as the Azzurre – who are ranked 13th in the world and were not expected to come this far – fell short of reaching a first final since the 1997 Euros.
