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Sport
Joe Donnohue

Lionesses star reveals mental toughness required as England overcome Italy to book Euros final place

Chloe Kelly and the England Lionesses celebrate their comeback semi-final triumph over Italy.

Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses booked their place in this weekend's tournament finale with a dramatic, late victory over Italy at Stade de Genève on Tuesday evening.

Barbara Bonansea's first-half opener looked set to be enough to send Italy through to their first final since 1997, but not before youngest member of the Lionesses squad Michelle Agyemang had her say.

An unused substitute for much of England's group stage campaign, Agyemang has come off the bench to score in each of the Lionesses' last two matches against Sweden in the quarter-final and on Tuesday versus Italy.

The 19-year-old struck in the sixth minute of additional time at the end of the second half, giving England an extra 30 minutes to find a winner.

It would arrive with less than two minutes of extra time remaining, courtesy of substitute Chloe Kelly.

Chloe Kelly has written herself into Lionesses history with recent tournament displays (Image credit: Charlotte Wilson - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

Assuming responsibility after Beth Mead was fouled inside the penalty area, Kelly stepped up to take a 119th-minute spot-kick for England. Although denied by Italian goalkeeper Laura Giuliani, Kelly followed up and made no mistake with the rebound, completing a famous Lionesses comeback.

"We don't do things the easy way it seems in this tournament but we find a way to win," said 2022 Euros winner Lucy Bronze.

Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses were crowned European champions for the first time in 2022. (Image credit: Getty Images)

"Whether that's the 96th minute, and then the [119th] minute - we just dig deep and find a way to get the goals.

"We showed resilience in the last game, Italy played a good game in the first half today but we showed resilience and fight to get back into it as we have so much at this tournament.

"We looked a little bit lethargic once we got going, and then they got the goal. Being 1-0 down in a semi-final isn't easy to take mentally," Bronze added.

Sunday's final in Basel will see the Lionesses take on spurned 2022 finalists Germany or Spain.

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