Lionesses Diary - Day 17: England recover from rollercoaster win as Sweden lick wounds

England will begin the task of trying to process their quarter-final victory over Sweden on Friday.

The hectic match saw the Lionesses come from two goals behind to take their tie to penalties after a 2-2 draw in normal time and, despite missing four of their seven spot-kicks, they triumphed 3-2 in the shootout.

Here is everything you need to know from the day after the night before on day 17 of Euro 2025…

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Today in camp

No doubt there will be plenty of sleeping and recovery in the England camp on Friday night with proceedings barely over by midnight in Zurich on Thursday.

With 120 minutes and a penalty shootout in their legs, the sheer adrenaline and nerves that must have been flowing through their bodies and the exhilaration of the victory, you would forgive England for taking it easy.

They have one day less to prepare than their upcoming opponents Italy, who beat Norway 2-1 in normal time on Wednesday evening, but Sarina Wiegman will not want to rush anyone back without full recovery.

As is custom after a match, it was only the players with limited minutes in training on Friday with six outfield players and two goalkeepers taking to the field at Sportanlage Au.

Team news

Leah Williamson was forced to depart the pitch early at the Stadion Letzigrund on Thursday night after falling awkwardly on her ankle.

“It wasn’t about me and a game like that requires you to be at 100%. Nobody can put a foot wrong, and it wasn’t the time to be on the pitch,” she told BBC Sport after the match.

The England captain was seen leaving the stadium on crutches and in a boot but there are no official updates on her availability going forward, with such measures potentially precautionary.

There were also knocks sustained by Alex Greenwood and Lauren James, but both were able to play the full 120 minutes and take a penalty.

Greenwood landed awkwardly on her shoulder while James also twisted her ankle under a challenge from Lina Hurtig.

Trending topics

The famed Swedish pop group ABBA has ben at the centre of videos doing the rounds on social media after Thursday night’s victory over Sweden.

Most bizarrely, the initials of all four scorers written in order on the scoreboard, spelled the name of the former Eurovision winners.

Sweden’s goalscorers Asllani and Blackstenius were followed by away side England’s Bronze and Agyemang to complete a strange reflection of the Swedish band that took inspiration from English glam rock.

There were also plentiful references to the group’s songs as Sweden’s hopes of progression were ‘slipping through their fingers’ and English fans rushed to post that ‘the winner takes it all’.

Sweden were perhaps ruing the fact that UEFA had done away with the ABBA penalty system when they scored just two of their seven penalties and saw Smilla Holmberg blaze her sudden-death kick over the bar to confirm England’s progression.

What are the pundits saying?

The substitutes have come in for much praise after their game-changing impacts in Zurich and it was an assessment that two former Lionesses also concurred with.

Rachel Daly and Millie Bright dissected the performance on the Daly Brightness Podcast, and identified Chloe Kelly’s introduction as a key point in the game.

The winger entered the pitch on 78 minutes and took just over a minute to deliver a brilliant in-swinging cross towards the back post where Lucy Bronze was on hand to head home.

She was also involved in Michelle Agyemang’s equaliser, clipping the ball towards Beth Mead who nodded down into the path of her club teammate for Agyemang to sweep home.

“It was an instant impact,” said Daly. “Chloe’s delivery, she always has something in the locker. Unless you’ve played with Chloe Kelly, I don’t think you understand just how good her delivery is.

“The subs have been absolutely outstanding, for me,” added Bright.

As well as Kelly, though, the two England stalwarts singled out Lucy Bronze for praise.

“Lucy was absolutely unbelievable tonight,” said Daly. “When she scored, it was one of those that I knew she was going to score. She scored against Sweden in the last Euros.

“When she scored her penalty, I just wanted to say the greatest of all time. She is the best to have ever done it.

“She embodies everything it means to be an England player. Bodies on the line and doing a diving header on the halfway line with two minutes to go - not bothered. Strapping her leg up - not bothered.”

Quote of the day

“I’m just thinking about how this team turned it around again and how this team showed resilience.

“Sometimes we say we’re never done. Well tonight we showed we’re absolutely never done.” - Sarina Wiegman on BBC Sport

Best of the rest

Sweden manager Peter Gerhardsson faced criticism after the match for allowing 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg to take the decisive penalty despite subbing on Rebecka Blomqvist in the 117th minute, only for her not to take a spot-kick.

Holmberg had to score after Lucy Bronze had buried her sudden-death penalty but blazed over the crossbar to confirm Sweden’s exit from Euro 2025.

But Gerhardsson defended his choice in the aftermath as he said there was no reason he would know Holmberg would be the decisive taker and had even considered putting her in the first five takers.

“It is one of the most difficult aspects of football because not many players take penalty kicks at their club,” he said.

“That was the final penalty, you don’t know that beforehand. Smilla is probably one of the best penalty takers in practice and we talked about having her as one of the five.

“We had 11 players in practice who wanted us to number them from one to 11, so we did. She could have been somewhere else but if we had scored earlier, she would not have taken one.”