ALEX GREENWOOD has opened on her conversation with Chloe Kelly prior to the England star’s crucial late penalty in last night’s win over Italy.
The Lionesses booked their place in Sunday’s Euro 2025 final by squeezing past the Italians in Geneva.
Sarina Wiegman’s side had trailed for much of the match courtesy of Barbara Bonansea’s 33rd minute opener.
But England were bailed out by teenage sensation Michelle Agyemang’s last-gasp leveller with 96 minutes on the clock.
And they were then presented with the chance to win the match late on in extra time, when Beth Mead was brought down in the box.
Having come off the bench, Kelly took the crucial spot kick.
The 27-year-old’s penalty was initially saved, only for Kelly to calmly slot home the rebound and send England into the final.
After the match, England star Greenwood gushed over Kelly – revealing the two-word message that the Arsenal ace gave her ahead of the spot kick.
The defender, 31, said: “That takes a lot of courage to step up to take that.
“I asked her, she had no doubt in her mind, she was confident enough to take it.
“All of our penalty takers were off, so who was left was probably me or Chloe. I missed the pen in the (Sweden) game, in the shootout, Chloe scored hers comfortably, so they (manager Sarina Wiegman and No2 Arjan Veurink) said, ‘It’s up to you, you or Chloe’.
“I asked her, I looked at her and said, ‘What do you think?’ She said, ‘I’m confident’.
“That’s enough for me. I don’t need to ask her again. She’s confident enough to take it, so she did.
“She’s great. She’s brilliant. I mean, she came on, she caused them massive problems, she did the other day. She scores a penalty.
“The way she carries herself off the pitch, I’ve not got enough good words to say about her.”
Boss Wiegman later added: “I think Chloe thrives on these moments. She’s excited about them, she loves those moments. You can tell.
“We always had the opportunity to bring fresh players on who bring a lot of quality.
“We ended up with more players up front, which was necessary because it was a wall we had to find a hole in. They did really good.
“When you go a goal down and have to come from behind against 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 the energy.
“The second half was better but they defended really well, and there wasn’t much space in the final third.”
The Lionesses will face either Spain or Germany in Sunday’s final, with the two heavyweight nations set to meet in tonight’s second semi.
Read the full article here
