Sarina Wiegman paid tribute to Chloe Kelly to “thrive”, which produced in the big moments after her 119-minute goal sent England into the Euro 2025 final.
The Arsenal Wing stepped up to shoot Lion’s Lion through to Sunday’s Showpiece in the last minute of extra time and converted rebound after her first penalty was rescued another night with high drama.
England was on its way to the exit door until Michelle Agnemang’s vital strike in the 96th minute gave them the postponement of the another half hour.
It was AgyMang’s third goal in four England Caps – and her second late equalization to keep their knock -out hope alive in so many matches. Wiegman’s assessment of the 19-year-old’s burgeoning Lionesses career was emphatically. “What talent is she,” she said ITV Sport.
She was just as glowing by Kelly, who had produced two assists in England’s possible penalty kick over Sweden in the quarterfinals before revitalizing them from the right flank again against Italy despite only moving on in the 77th minute.
“I think Chloe thrives on these moments,” Wiegman said. “She’s excited about them she loves those moments. You can tell.
“We always had the opportunity to bring fresh players that bring a lot of quality.
“We ended up with more players in front, which was necessary because it was a wall we had to find a hole in. They did really well.
“When you go down a goal and have to come from behind towards Italy, you know you have a problem.
“We had some serious challenges. We didn’t play well in the first half, we had a lot of the ball but we didn’t have energy.
“The other half was better, but they defended really well and there was not much space in the last third.”
Kelly does not have to start a game in the tournament yet, but had no resentment over her lack of minutes after her latest match -winning contribution and instead focused on the character and resilience of her teammates to get themselves out of prison for the second match in a row.
They had drawn Sweden with two goals into the 79th minute last Thursday any victory and had less than two minutes of injuries left to save the semi -finals with Italy before Agyemang’s equalization.
Again, substitutes turned out to be important in England’s success, as they have done throughout Wiegman’s term of office, where Kelly led the charge – and the clutch for her to start Sunday’s final with either Germany or Spain, which is likely to only be higher as a result.
“This team fights back, we have that resilience,” she said ITV Sport. “But hopefully we can make it a little easier for ourselves in the final.
“It’s an incredible feeling. This team deserves nothing more than that. Three finals on the rejection but we want more.
“The penalty wasn’t going to go like that, but I was just ready for rebound! I was confident, but the goalkeeper did her homework.”
Bronze: We don’t do things in the easy way
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Chloe Kelly scores a rebound from his own penalty for sending England into the euro 2025 final when they appear to defend their title.
England’s victory was their fourth to require extra time from seven knock-out games under Wiegman, but the first time they face another 30 minutes in the same tournament.
It was also the third game of five, where they have had to come from behind, with five of their 15 goals in Switzerland so far that came from compensation.
“We don’t do things in the easy way it seems in this tournament, but we’ll find a way to win,” defender Lucy Bronze said.
“Whether it’s 96. Minute, and then [119th] Minute – we just dig deeply and find a way to get the goals.
“We showed resilience in the last game, Italy played a good game in the first half today, but we showed resilience and struggled to get back into it as we have so much about this tournament.
“We looked a little dull when we got started and then they got the goal. To be 1-0 down in a semi-final is not easy to take mentally.”