Euro 2025: Sarina Wiegman 'very happy' with Wales thrashing as England prepare for Sweden in quarter-finals | OneFootball

Lionesses will face their conquerors from the 1984 final

England manager Sarina Wiegman has described Sweden as a "hard team to beat" ahead of Thursday's Euro 2025 quarter-final.

They take on the Group C winners on Thursday after beating Wales 6-1 to qualify second from the so-called ‘group of death’, with France topping Group D after a 5-2 victory over the Netherlands.

"They're always a team; they're always very powerful [and] they have speed up front on the counter-attack,” Wiegman said of the Lionesses’ last-eight opponents.

“They are a hard team to beat. They have done well in the group. We will see and we will get ready. Recover from this one and then we go again in Zurich.”

England lost their opening group game to France before emphatically beating the Netherlands and Wales to secure their place in the knockout stages.

Wiegman says the France defeat galvanised the defending champions, who have scored 10 goals and conceded just once since their 2-1 defeat to Les Bleues.

"I'm very happy,” the England boss continued. “As far as I know, everyone came out fit from this game. We have three days to recover - we knew ahead of this tournament that this group was hard. When you lose the first game, there is a massive urgency to win the other two.

"So, it gave us a lot of learning again with the team, and it brought us together, that loss [against France]."

England put six goals past Wales with six different players getting on the scoresheet, but Wiegman reserved praise for striker Alessia Russo, who capped a string of impressive displays with her first goal of the tournament.

"Of course, she is a striker and wants to score goals, but playing well is the most important thing. Who scores is not that important, but it is nice that she got on," Wiegman added.

England have four days to rest and recover before taking on Sweden, who won all three of their games to top a group containing Germany, Poland and Denmark.

The Lionesses will arrive in Zurich full of confidence but wary of a Sweden side who very much have their own aspirations of lifting a second Euros title.