Time for patched-up Lionesses to get over Euro 2025 'wobbles' with history within their grasp

The Lionesses trailed Sweden 2-0 after 78 minutes of their Euro 2025 quarter-final last Thursday, yet scored twice in two minutes to force extra time before prevailing from one of the most barmy penalty shootouts for a very long time.

Their reward, tonight, is their sixth consecutive major semi-final and a chance to reach their third consecutive major final - impressive consistency. And, what’s more, this semi-final comes against an opponent who have exceeded all expectations in even being here.

No one fancied Italy to be lining up in the last four. But that is no reason to write them off, and the Lionesses know far better than to stroll complacently into Tuesday’s semi-final in Geneva.

While Italy stunned Norway inside 90 minutes in their quarter-final, England put their bodies and their resolve through the wringer in a draining encounter with Sweden that lasted 120 minutes plus and which exposed the worst of their defending.

They rightly received plaudits for turning the match on its head and finding a way to win but equally know they must perform so much better if they are to keep their European Championship title defence on track by eliminating Italy and making the final.

The Lionesses had played turgid and error-prone football up to that point when Lucy Bronze’s header halved the deficit against Sweden.

The Italians play a physical brand of football and England must thwart them, producing a performance more akin to the 4-0 and 6-1 group-stage wins over the Netherlands and Wales than the disappointing opening-night loss to France or their cagey, disjointed display in the quarter-final against Sweden.

However draining that last-eight tie was, though, going long into the night and still coming through - with goalkeeper Hannah Hampton nursing a nasty nosebleed and Leah Williamson hobbling off - can only have boosted morale within the camp.

Hampton is fine, thank goodness, and Williamson joined the rest of the squad in training at their Zurich base camp on Monday so is also expected to play.

“I'd like to think we've got all the wobbles out of the way,” said Beth Mead.

“I think this is very much the business end of the tournament, we've got to be on it and we've got to be very much in the right headspace. We've got to play well in knockout football now.”

Sarina Wiegman has a tendency to keep things the same if all players are fit, but might she match up Italy’s favoured 3-5-2 formation to try to nullify them?

When England played that system at the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, it made a number of their attackers hard for opposition defences to pin down and powered them all the way to the final.

However she sets her team up against Italy, Wiegman knows the same prize is on offer tonight.