England “just don’t know when to give up,” says Keira Walsh | OneFootball

England midfielder Keira Walsh spoke to the media ahead of her side’s upcoming UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final against Spain, set to take place in Basel on Sunday [17:00 BST, 18:00 CEST].

It’s been a tumultuous tournament for the Lionesses, who lost their opening game against France before enjoying two dominant victories against both the Netherlands and Wales to progress from Group D. Then, they were trailing by two goals against Sweden before drawing level in dramatic fashion and winning the penalty shootout to reach the semi-final, where they once again came from behind to clinch victory in extra time. It’s no wonder the vibes in the camp are good, and Walsh revealed that “the way we did it, it brings the team closer together. We just don’t know when to give up.”

“We come into every tournament wanting to reach the final. Maybe the way we’ve done it is a bit more stressful for everyone, but that is the beauty of this team, that we are relentless and we’ve got belief in ourselves that even in the 90th minute, we can get a goal and we can win. I think that’s what is really special about us.”

“ Honestly, I think it’s a part of being English. That’s what we feel when we put the shirt on – it’s that we give everything, we run ourselves into the ground. The beauty of this squad is that we know that if we have to come off because we’re tired, there’s going to be someone else who’s going to come on and finish the job. That’s kind of just what we speak about as a team is that English resilience and it’s something that we’re really pride ourselves on and you can see that in the last two games that that’s something we really believe in.”

England and Spain have created something of an on-pitch rivalry in recent years. England, on home soil in 2022, knocked Spain out of the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win in extra time – but la Roja then got revenge in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final, with a narrow 1-0 victory.

“That was a massive disappointment. As a collective, we feel like we didn’t have our best performance that day, but I think as a football player you can become too emotional, if you are trying to pull on that too much, there are too many things going on. For us, it’s a new game, a new team, we know what we bring in this tournament, so we are going to keep doing that and just focus on the positives and not try to draw on that too much.”

“There is a lot of respect between both teams. I think the most important thing is that, for them, they can enjoy this final, that there is not the controversy surrounding it. The girls deserve to be there, they play incredible football. So first and foremost, for them as human beings is that they can just go out and enjoy this game,” Walsh continued.

“There is a rivalry. They play incredible football and we know that we do, on our days, as well. We know what we are capable of and where we can hurt them. So I think it’s going to be an exciting game and hopefully it’s a good one for the fans to watch.”

England must find a way to nullify Aitana Bonmatí, the two-time Ballon d’Or winner, on Sunday. The Barcelona midfielder scored the winning goal for Spain in their semi-final, and she’s a player that Walsh knows well.

“She’s an incredible player, but I think if you try to nullify her, I think Patri [Guijarro]’s been one of the best players at this tournament. You can focus on Aitana and then you’ve got Patri, and then you’ve got Alexia [Putellas] and Mariona [Caldentey], so I think for us we’re not focusing on one player. We know what we can bring defensively and so we’re just focusing on what we can do and then obviously we’re going to have some chances as well that we need to take.”

“The Spanish are probably one of the best possession teams in the world. For us it’s just about being patient when we don’t have the ball. It’s not about panicking and getting frustrated. We just have to be comfortable defending and then when we have the ball, we have to look after it. The English mentality has been going through all of our games and that is not going to change in the final. If anything, we know we are going to be more proud to be representing our country.”