England vs Sweden penalties live: Lionesses survive penalty shootout scare to progress at Euro 2025

England have successfully reached the semi-finals of Euro 2025 after surviving a penalty shoot-out against Sweden and coming from two goals down to continue their title defence.

The holders looked to be heading home but two goals in three minutes sparked a chaotic comeback before Hannah Hampton and Lucy Bronze were the heroes in the shoot-out.

After going through on penalties, England will play Italy in the semi-finals.

Italy were runners-up in Group B after beating Belgium, drawing with Portugal and losing to Spain, and stunned Norway in their quarter-final. Cristiana Girelli scored twice to send Italy through to their first semi-final in 28 years.

Their semi-final will be played on Tuesday 22 July with kick-off at 8pm BST (UK time). England will travel to Geneva for the first time, which is where Italy beat Norway on Wednesday night.

“I was quite emotional at the end of the game. I think I was frustrated not to execute my own penalty. I just said over there, I think I would back myself in them situations but we practice them every day. We try and do our routine. It doesn’t go to plan, but we as a team stuck together, we got behind each other and like Ella said earlier, sometimes you need your goalkeeper to step up and Hannah did that today.”

Sarina Wiegman admitted there were “three times” where she thought England were heading out of Euro 2025 before winning on penalties.

“What we can control is the team just fighting to get back into the game and that is what you can see. I think that’s a quality that is so strong in this team, that togetherness and fighting back. It shows so much resilience.

“Then we changed it and brought in other players like Michelle [Agyemang], Chloe [Kelly] and they brought different things to the game that really helped the team in that moment. Also, Sweden in that moment, had to adapt to some different things.

“That is so powerful from this team. That luck as well, yes, at least three times I thought we were out.”

Sarina Wiegman reserved special praise for Lucy Bronze’s “resilience and fight” and said she had never before seen a player defy injury to score such an important penalty.

“Lucy Bronze is just one of a kind, I have never, ever seen this before in my life,” Wiegman said.

“I’m a very lucky person that I’ve worked with so many incredible people and incredible football players, and there are so, so many, but what she does and her mentality, and how she did that penalty and the goal, at the far post, she gets it in the net. But that’s not what defines her.

“What defines her is that resilience, that fight. I think the only way to get her off the pitch is in a wheelchair.”

Sarina Wiegman confirmed that captain Leah Williamson rolled her ankle during England’s chaotic Euro 2025 win over Sweden and said the defender will be assessed before the semi-final against Italy on Tuesday.

The Lionesses fought from two goals down and then survived a thrilling penalty shoot-out to keep their European title defence alive in Zurich but Wiegman may be left counting the cost of the victory after Williamson limped off in extra time.

The centre-back stayed down after England cleared a corner and appeared to land awkwardly. Williamson attempted to play but realised she was not at “100 per cent” and was replaced before the penalty drama unfolded.

Italy next, and Lucy Bronze says, “Obviously on paper they’re ranked lower than us but for them they’ve got everything to win in that game, considering I think it’s their first ever Euros semi-final. You saw how much it meant to them yesterday getting through.

“Even against Spain I thought they did quite well, although the scoreline probably doesn’t look like it, and Spain are a top team. I’ve watched them throughout the tournament and they deserve to be in the semi-final. I don’t think we’ll take anything for granted after this game tonight so we have to be at our best if we want to be in the final.”

Bronze, up seventh in the line-up, drilled her spot kick down the middle before Smilla Holmberg fired her penalty over the crossbar to give England a 3-2 shootout win.

Goalkeeper Hannah Hampton saved two penalties to keep the Lionesses in the contest and praised the England supporters for giving her an extra edge in the shootout.

Hampton, who performed her heroics with a bloody nose, spoke to the BBC after the match and said she was ‘relieved’ to make it through.

Chloe Kelly walks up to the penalty spot as if she’s in her back garden. She stops. She waits. She picks the ball up and spins it back onto the spot, as if no one is watching and no one is waiting for the kick to keep England’s Euro defence alive. Kelly waits a little longer. Then she lifts up her right leg, skips a little, and effortlessly places the biggest penalty of her life into the corner. Confident? That doesn’t quite cut it. Did Kelly know that Sweden’s goalkeeper was up next, with the chance to knock England out and send Sweden through? Probably not. But given the way Kelly turned and roared at the England fans in Zurich, you wouldn’t put it past her.

Jamie Braidwood reports from Zurich:

It’s an image that could go down in England folklore, albeit after a performance – bar maybe a total of three minutes – that won’t quite be written into history. Certainly not with any great affection. Following a series of absurd misses, in what might well have been one of the worst penalty shoot-outs in football history, a hobbling Lucy Bronze ripped off her strapping, and strode forward. An astonishing eight of the 12 previous penalties had been squandered. Some had been squandered in scarcely believable fashion, the emotional momentum of the shoot-out veering as wildly as some of the attempts. So, Bronze just smashed it straight into the roof of the net.

It was a decisiveness that had been missing from the previous 10 minutes, and most of the game. It also seemed to scramble Sweden one final time, as Smilla Holmberg became just the latest player to sky the ball.

This time, it was enough. Bronze’s force had driven England into the semi-finals of Euro 2025.

Miguel Delaney reports from Zurich:

Lucy Bronze adds, referring to penalties and the tape she put on her leg in extra time: “I actually hurt my leg a little bit in the game, which is why I had to take the tape off, so I kind of changed my mind. That’s why I took it off because I thought I’m not sure if I’m going to hurt myself doing something different.

“Also I watched the goalkeeper in every single penalty and she dived quite early. Statistically in a penalty shootout it’s quite risky for the goalkeeper to stand still and go down the middle. Also you’re more likely to win if you go first – winning the coin toss played into that. So yeah – I love maths.

“I’ve been around long enough. I need to know the ins and outs of the game. Standing a little bit in front, celebrating each goal, giving confidence to my team. All the little things can make a difference and for me it felt like it did tonight.”