There were a lot of players who stepped up in order to drag England across the line in their Euro 2025 quarter-final against Sweden on Thursday night. Be it Lucy Bronze, who kickstarted the comeback from 2-0 down with a brilliant header before thumping her penalty beyond Jennifer Falk to swing the momentum in the Lionesses' favour in the shootout. Michelle Agyemang's another, the nerveless teenager who pounced on a loose ball to draw the reigning European champions level with her first major tournament goal. Hannah Hampton more than played her part, too, as she saved two spot-kicks in the shootout after making a couple of big saves in the game itself.
But no one changed this game quite like Chloe Kelly. The Arsenal winger had been on the pitch mere seconds when she whipped in a wonderful cross to the back post that Bronze connected with, heading home the goal that narrowed the deficit to 2-1 with a little over 10 minutes remaining. Then, almost straight after the restart, Kelly was at it again, as another delivery caused chaos in the Sweden box and led to Agyemang bagging the equaliser.
Completing the set with a nerveless penalty, before which she even managed to flash a smile at opposing goalkeeper Falk, this was a massive, pressure-defying performance from Kelly - one which surely has Sarina Wiegman thinking about how to use her in Tuesday's semi-final clash with Italy.
