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Kelly: I’m very proud to be English (1:32)
Chloe Kelly has described England as a “movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat” after her side’s 2-1 win over Italy at Euro 2025. (1:32)
GENEVA, Switzerland — Lucy Bronze has said England have “nothing to prove” after reaching the Euro 2025 final and thinks opposition defenders are “petrified” of their star substitute Michelle Agyemang.
England left it late to see off Italy in Geneva on Tuesday. They needed a goal from Agyemang six minutes into injury time to level things up, before Chloe Kelly scored the winner in the 119th minute as she tapped home the rebound off her own saved penalty.
It was that duo and the rest of the substitutes — along with Bronze — who helped wrestle England through their quarterfinal with Sweden, where the Lionesses won a chaotic penalty shootout to prevail.
The Lionesses have led their two knockout matches for a combined total of five minutes, and will play the winner of Spain‘s semifinal with Germany in Basel on Sunday.
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It is the Lionesses’ third major tournament final in a row after they won Euro 2022 and lost the 2023 World Cup final to Spain 1-0.
When asked if England have something to prove, Bronze answered: “Not really. I think that’s people from the outside thinking teams have to win every single game.
“I think people talk about consistency with this England team, we’ve done six consecutive semifinals, three consecutive finals, who else has done that? Nobody.
“You know, Spain and Germany are fantastic teams, even they haven’t managed that feat. It’s hard to stay at the top in international football, so many teams have performances, then it’s up and down, they develop, but this team just keeps fighting until the end.
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“I feel like we didn’t have anything to prove because we’ve been there, we’ve done it many, many times, just about it’s just the fact that the game’s getting better, international football’s not as easy as it used to be. And everybody’s fighting and everybody wants to win and everybody feels like they can win.”
One of England’s stars of the tournament has been 19-year-old Agyemang. She spent last season on loan at Brighton and only received her first England call-up in April.
She has made four appearances to date off the bench, and scored three goals; two of which were essential in guiding England through the knockout stages.
“What a tournament from Michelle, especially coming in with the seniors just a couple of months ago. What a great player, what a bright future she’s got.
Lucy Bronze has said England don’t need to prove anything after reaching another major final. Manuel Winterberger/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
“She’s such a humble, lovely down to earth girl. Honestly couldn’t think of a nicer person.
“Listen she knows she’s a strong girl she knows she can finish. She’s a little bit of the unknown and she brings something different to her other strikers and our attackers, which maybe other teams aren’t used to playing against, especially in an England shirt.
“She can put the ball in the back of the net, she does it in training and honestly the girl works tirelessly every single day in training against our centre-halves, pushing them making sure that she’s fresh for when she comes on as a sub.
“You see it when she comes on, like defenders are petrified of her, coming up against her, she comes on a defender’s played 90 minutes and then they have to come up against Michelle.
“I sure as hell wouldn’t want that to be me. She’s so powerful, so aggressive, she really let us breathe a little bit in the game and helped get rid of some of the pressure in the game as well.”
Bronze was also full of praise for Kelly, who has had an incredible ability of contributing match-clinching moments from the bench.
She scored the winner for England against Germany in the Euro 2022 final, netted the winning penalty in the Finalissima and against Nigeria at the 2023 World Cup, crossed for Bronze to nod home the goal against Sweden and then scored the winner against Italy on Wednesday.
“Chloe’s just attitude, sass, confidence, I think Chloe’s one of them players when she’s on the pitch, no matter what the moment of the game is, or how she’s feeling how the crowd is, no matter what, she’s going to push her shoulders back, big up her chest and she’s going to go for it,” Bronze said.
“They’re both key players in this team, obviously they haven’t started in this tournament but it just shows the strength of our team that we’ve got these players that we can rely on off the bench because I don’t know many teams that have that.”
