“This team never gives up,” says Sarina Wiegman after England beat Italy to reach Euro 2025 final | OneFootball

England will play their third consecutive major tournament final on Sunday when they take on either Germany or Spain in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 decider, having left it late to edge past Italy on Tuesday.

Sarina Wiegman, who will take to the dugout for her fifth consecutive major final, revealed in her post-match press conference that “it feels a bit surreal making the final again. We’re here, and we’re going to do the final so we need to recover a bit [physically, emotionally, mentally].”

After Barbara Bonansea’s first-half opener gave Italy the lead, England were trailing up until the 96th minute of the game. Just seconds before the final whistle would have sounded, 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang scored the equaliser to keep England in it.

“Of course we do it together,” Wiegman explained, “but as I said in the squad announcement, she brings something special. She has something special. She’s only 19 years old. She’s very mature. She knows exactly what she has to do. When we talk about little things, she picks that up straight away. Because she’s not even very dangerous in the 18-yard box, but when we have to go to her as a target player, she keeps the ball really well too. And even when you saw that the ball on the crossbar, that was not just a shot, she was aiming for it. So yeah, if she continues that, she’ll have a very bright future.”

Tuesday’s win was another example of England’s substitutes – or finishers, as they have become known – being the key to the Lionesses’ success. “They’re just ready to go and they want to give a contribution and I think everyone accepts her role, whatever role she’s given,” Wiegman revealed. “What we try to do is give as much clarity as possible about that but also the task on the pitch when you come in and when we make a change or make a shape change. There’s just so much energy and everyone, like we never give up. So you know until the referee whistles, so as a final whistle, you know you have an opportunity to score a goal. We subbed to win, we had to because we were one down, and we played to win.”

“We play to win, and you want to try and get these moments, and the team never gives up. “

On going into her fifth major tournament final, the Dutchwoman said: “I’m the lucky one to work with so many good people, good players, good staff, good support from the Federation: the FA this time, and the Dutch FA before that. I think it’s so special to play a final. I actually can’t believe it myself.”

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.