ENGLAND hero Hannah Hampton had the safest hands in Switzerland as she saved two penalties during the final shootout against Spain.
The Lionesses successfully defended their title of European Champions after coming from behind to beat the world champions 3-1 on penalties.
Hampton saw Beth Mead’s retaken penalty saved by counterpart Cata Coll before Patricia Guijarro scored past her.
But the Chelsea shot-stopper was not about to allow herself to be beaten by Spain’s Mariona Caldentey – who netted La Roja’s opener in the first half – for a second time, diving right to level the scoring.
She then saved again from reigning Women’s Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí to hand England the advantage after Alex Greenwood and Niamh Charles both scored.
Leah Williamson saw her kick saved by Coll, but team-mate Salma Paralluelo shot wide of Hampton’s left post, leaving the decisive kick down to super sub Chloe Kelly.
And she duly delivered from 12 yards, blasting the ball into the top corner.
However, in all the drama of the occasion, the goalkeeping hero admitted she actually missed the moment Kelly scored the winning penalty.
Instead, the 24-year-old was trying to discover if the Arsenal star would win them the shootout if she scored.
Speaking to ITV, she said: “To be honest I don’t really know what was going on.
England are queens of Europe
“I turned around to the fans to ask if Chloe scores do we win and they just yelled at me.
“So I don’t know what the answer to that was and as soon as I saw her run off I knew that we had won.”
Her shootout heroics were backed up by a “cheat sheet” sticker she kept in her undershirt sleeve during the shootout.
Hampton added to the broadcaster: “I don’t think it’s going to sink in for a while what we’ve just achieved. We’re the team who never gives up and we got the reward for that today…
“It’s an amazing moment and I don’t think I’m going to come to terms with it for a while…
“[The best day of my life] It’s up there, that’s for sure. There’s a lot of things I had to deal with before the tournament and a lot of the things the team helped get me through.
“Some really horrible moments. To be standing here right now as back-to-back Euros winner is incredible moment.”
Hampton was named as the Player of the Match for the final, with Uefa’s technical team giving particular praise for her passing and brace of saves in the shootout.
This tournament has seen the England No1 defy any expectations of how she might have done.
She was thrust into the spotlight by the sudden retirement of Mary Earps before the tournament, while she also defied medical advice and overcame all of the odds to become a national hero.
The Birmingham-born ace was born with a condition called strabismus – which effectively means her eyes are misaligned with one turned in an opposite direction to the other.
A trio of surgeries by the time she was three failed to solve the issue but there was no stopping our super stopper as she refused to let the condition stop her from joining Stoke City’s centre of excellence.
But there was another shock in store for her when a check-up at the doctor’s uncovered another issue when she was aged 11.
Hampton was told that she had a depth perception problem, which means she has difficulties with judging distances and spatial relationships.
Medics told her becoming a pro footballer – never mind a GOALKEEPER – was out of the question as they urged her to consider something different.
But nothing could stop Hampton from achieving her dream, and tonight was exactly what dreams are made.
England are queens of Europe
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