British media has hailed England¡¯s great escape in the quarterfinals of Women¡¯s Euro 2025 after the Lionesses battled from two goals down to beat Sweden in a surreal penalty shootout and keep their title defense alive.
The Zurich shootout featured 14 penalties before England prevailed 3-2, with Lionesses goalkeeper Hannah Hampton emerging as the unlikely hero having been thrust into the spotlight in her first major tournament.
¡°Beautiful craziness!¡± trumpeted the Daily Mail, while The Sun led with ¡°Cats With Nine Lives¡± and The Times declared ¡°Hannah Hampton the England hero in ridiculous penalty shootout.¡±
¡°If this team was a cat, seven of nine lives would have been used up on this rollercoaster ride, but here they were: still standing, still fighting,¡± Dominic King wrote in the Daily Mail.
The Times said it had looked like England was on its way out when training 2-0 after 25 minutes before goals from Lucy Bronze and teenager Michelle Agyemang sent the game to extra time.
¡°Yes, England were abysmal for 70 minutes, but who cares?¡± Kit Shepard wrote.
¡°Once Sarina Wiegman finally made some substitutions in this epic quarterfinal, they recovered from 2-0 down, held on heroically in extra time and prevailed in a ridiculous penalty shoot-out. The Lionesses¡¯ Euro 2025 hopes are, somehow, still alive.¡±
England¡¯s valiant effort also drew praise in The Guardian.
¡°Even as an utterly shambolic England trail Sweden 2-0 and the obituaries for their Euro 2025 campaign are being scribbled, there is a little knot of refusal there, a team with an entirely unwarranted calmness at its core, a team that against all the available visual evidence still trusts that everything is going to work out eventually,¡± Jonathan Liew wrote.
The Telegraph said Bronze¡¯s winning penalty would go down in English football folklore.
¡°It was a penalty hit with fury, a strike of pure mental and physical strength,¡± Luke Edwards wrote.
¡°Bronze roared, a scream into the night air, a scream that said England will not surrender, they will not go down without a fight while she had oxygen left in her lungs.¡±
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.