Kelly winner lifts England past Italy

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Chloe Kelly scored a dramatic late winner in extra-time as reigning champion England came from behind to beat Italy, 2-1, on Tuesday and reach the Women’s Euro 2025 final.

The Lionesses had been on the brink of elimination as they trailed to Barbara Bonansea’s first-half strike for surprise semifinalists Italy in Geneva.

But after their remarkable comeback from two goals down to beat Sweden on penalties in last week’s quarter-final, they pulled off more heroics here.

Michelle Agyemang came off the bench and forced the extra period by equalising in the 96th minute, and fellow substitute Kelly completed the turnaround by following in to score the winner in the 119th minute after her penalty had been saved.

Sarina Wiegman’s team are through to their third consecutive major tournament final and the 2022 European champions head to Basel for Sunday’s showpiece.

That will be either a repeat of the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, which they lost to Spain, or a repeat of the last Euro final, in which they defeated Germany at Wembley — those sides meet in their semi on Wednesday.

“Luckily, I got there for the tap-in,” Kelly told broadcaster ITV.

“Three finals on the bounce and we want more. This team shows resilience but we fight back and hopefully we can make it easier for ourselves.”