Chaos followed England from the beginning of the European Championships in Switzerland, but like true Lionesses, they roared back every single time.
Hands on her head, disbelief clouding her thoughts, Lioness defender Lucy Bronze stood frozen in front of the goal. England were 1-0 down in the Women’s Euro 2025 final to the tournament favourites, Spain, and their team was a chaotic mess.
It was a situation that was all too familiar.
For the third match in a row, England’s players stared at the scoreboard, devoid of answers. A 25th-minute header from Mariona Caldentey, the final touch on a blistering Spanish move down the right channel, had silenced the roaring Lionesses.
“Not again,” was the collective murmur of the England fans everywhere, from the tens of thousands packed into Basel’s St Jakob-Park in Switzerland, to the millions watching nervously back home. They had seen this downbeat script before: a first-half Spain goal in the 2023 FIFA World Cup final in Sydney, Australia, had crushed English hearts.
