“We fought until the end,” says Lucy Bronze after England’s win against Italy | OneFootball

England have grown into a habit of deciding their UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 fate rather late.

Against Sweden, a penalty shootout was needed after the Lionesses overturned a two-goal deficit in their quarter-final. On Tuesday, Michelle Agyemang scored a crucial equaliser in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time, before Chloe Kelly slammed home a rebounded penalty effort in the final minute of extra time to seal progression to the final.

Lucy Bronze was asked if the team has proved that they have ‘nine lives’ – and she conceded that “it seems that way”.

“People may say England haven’t been consistent in the past few years, but I think getting to three consecutive major finals in a row, getting to the Euro final again, just shows what this team’s made of. We fought until the end. It probably wasn’t our best performance again, but Italy were a fantastic team as well. They started really well. It just shows the fight that we have and the talent that we’ve got [with] players coming off the bench to make a difference again.”

“It’s not really sunk in to be honest after a game like today and leaving it to the last 30 seconds, I mean I never doubted that we had what it takes to push through but I think we’ve put our families through hell and back these last few games, to be honest.”

Despite leaving progression so late on two occasions, Bronze insists: “I don’t think it’s a concern. I think we’ve also got to give credit to the teams that we’re playing against. Sweden showed a lot of fight, Italy were a really good team. It’s not just about one team just winning every single game. We saw that in this tournament, and so many teams are at such a high level, and you switch off for a moment and you’re 1-0 down.”

“I think we’re just showing that we’ve got fighters. It’s what you need in a tournament, showing that we can do that in different scenarios. I think it gives you a lot of belief because we know we can play good football as well – we know we’ve got the performances, so I think we now know going to the final that we’re capable of so many different ways of playing and winning and digging in.”

When asked about Michelle Agyemang and Chloe Kelly, who have developed a reputation as England’s super subs throughout the last two matches, Bronze said: “What a tournament from Michelle especially, coming in with the seniors just a couple of months ago. What a great player, what a bright future she’s got. She’s such a humble, lovely down to earth girl. Honestly, couldn’t think of a nicer person and then Chloe’s just attitude, sass, confidence. I think Chloe’s one of [those] players when she’s on the pitch, no matter what the moment of the game is, or how she’s feeling how the crowd is, no matter what, she’s going to push her shoulders back, big up her chest and she’s going to go for it.”

“They’re both key players in this team, obviously they haven’t started in this tournament but it just shows the strength of our team that we’ve got these players that we can rely on off the bench because I don’t know many teams that have that.”

The 33-year-old continued: “I think [Agyemang] is very humble and I think she knows her strength. I think that gives you confidence – listen, she knows she’s a strong girl, she knows she can finish. She can put the ball in the back of the net, she does it in training and honestly the girl works tirelessly every single day in training against our centre-halves, pushing them, making sure that she’s fresh for when she comes on as a sub. But what a future the kid’s got ahead of her. At 19, she’s helping the England team get to a Euros final. I can’t imagine her or her family ever dreamed of it.”

Separately on Chloe Kelly, she added: “She did it in the last Euros as well. People forget that she came back from an ACL injury. She came off the bench and scored the winning goal in the Euros final back then, she’s been doing it week in and out. She’s just got this attitude and this confidence that you can’t buy. She is a great teammate to have around, she’s not started any of the games, but in every single game she’s come on and she’s made a difference. She is one of those players you want on your team and not on the other team, that is for sure.”

The UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final will see England face either Spain or Germany on Sunday, 27 July at 17:00 BST [18:00 CEST] in Basel.