Golden Girls: Senders Chloe Kelly (left) and Michelle Agyemang celebrate with the European Championship Cup.
Photo: Imago/Priscila Bütler
Prince William and Aleksander Ceferin carried out the award ceremony in the St. Jakob Park full of reluctance-the stage should belong to the English footballers who go into the history book with their title defense. Only one player pressed the prominence from the English royal family and the UEFA president when handing over the winning badge very hard: Lucy Bronze had bitten their teeth like no other in the 3-1 penalty shootout in the final fight of the European Championship between England and Spain.
The 33-year-old is now celebrated as a new model in the mother country of football-because she played the tournament with a broken shin. “Nobody knew about it. It is very painful, but I will celebrate, ”confessed the right -back, who was sagged several times on the lawn of Basel on Sunday evening, but was only replaced at the second half of the extension.
Bronze as a symbol of the English mentality
When the deeply touched success coach Sarina Wiegman passed the most compliments to her players at the press conference, the 55-year-old Dutchman indicated that bronze for the gold mission had gone across borders of reason. “She had some problems with her shin,” but had become a symbolic figure for an “insane mentality” on this beguiling evening. The bronze at the European Championship was on the pitch for 598 minutes in the middle of the pandemic. If the knighthood will soon be awarded to Wiegman, maybe England’s number 2 should also receive an invitation.
Bronze is still one of the best right -backs in the world, but also showed a lot of other qualities in this European Championship: in the quarter -finals against Sweden, she banded the thigh itself from the false festival from the penalty festival, in order to then give younger players with a massively converted penalty. This experience also let the “Lionesses” grow together for a community that is indomitable.
Wiegmann not only included her team in her praise after winning the title, but also the press and Switzerland as convincing and likeable hosts in every respect. Who would have wanted to leave the sporty “most chaotic, craziest tournament” earlier than necessary? In contrast, England’s goalkeeper Hannah Hampton also bumped into this. The 24-year-old, who was hostile to social media shortly before the European Championship, because she was supposedly not as good as the Mary Earps celebrated in 2022, not only kept a look at the Spanish penalty shifts defended in the final. In the past, she was so strong that she could not water a glass of water without an accident, as she once revealed. Hampton was born with an eye disease and operated several times as a child. Doctors actually advise her from football because she lacks deep perception. “I have proven the opposite for people,” she said proudly.
Satisfaction for the final game specialist Kelly
Similar satisfaction swung with Chloe Kelly, who had scored the winning goal in the semi -finals against Italy. The fact that the 27-year-old received the role of the heroine as a substitute player as a one ago was the next fairy tale in the annals. In winter, the footballer at Manchester City, which is also visibly extrovert on the pitch, was no longer even in the squad and wanted to end her career. “I had tough times and I am happy and grateful to have made it again,” said the attacker that had been bloated again at Arsenal. It may not be a coincidence that she was now doing the dream flank of Alexia Russo’s compensation in order to make English happiness perfect from the penalty point later.
Wiegman stated in a gentle tone: »Every player has her own story. I think that has to do with our team, but also with the character. ”After the coup against the world champions, it should go on the open bus in London this Tuesday before the Buckingham Palace. Previously, King Charles III. The new and old European champions his “warmest congratulations”. For “more years than I can remember, the English fans have been singing the famous song” Football’s Coming Home “,” he wrote. The men’s World Cup triumph in 1966 and the European Championship title of women in 2022 were successful in home tournaments in the old and new Wembley, now this team really brings football “home”.