‘Absolute madness’: England fans reflect on Euros comeback win against Sweden | OneFootball

England supporters in Zurich were recovering on Friday from the drama of the Euro 2025 penalty shootout win against Sweden, with one speaking of “absolute madness in the stands” as the team came from two goals down.

England’s official allocation of 2,099 tickets at the Stadion Letzigrund was sold out but there were about another 10,000 England fans in the stadium, including Louisa Holden-Morris, from Crewe, who was attending her 13th match at this tournament. She told the Guardian she could scarcely watch the penalties.

“I’ve lost the charger for my Fitbit but if it had been on, I think my heart rate would have been through the roof,” she said. “I just kept hiding behind the people in front of me because I could not look. I was so nervous because, to fight back like that and then to have lost on penalties would have been so much more painful, after they’d done so much.

“I didn’t even realise we’d won when it was over, because there had been so many missed penalties, so I didn’t realise until all the players ran over and jumped on Hannah [Hampton, the goalkeeper]. Then everyone was jumping on top of each other and it was pure joy. But I was crying at the same time because I was so happy. I could not believe that they had done it. I was so proud.”

Another fan cheering on the Lionesses was Nathalie Durgnat, who was born and raised in Switzerland but supports Arsenal and England. Durgnat joined in with England’s fan walk to the stadium, during which the supporter favourites such as Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline were sung through the streets of Zurich. “It was really something,” she said. “I’ve been to a lot of football matches in my life because I’m over 40, but I have rarely experienced such drama. There was everything in that game. At first, everyone was kind of in disbelief, because Sweden were really good. Then, when England tied it to make it 2-2 with two goals in two minutes, it was absolute madness in the stands.

“I have no words for what happened in the penalty shootout. I was so tense and so nervous, going through the rollercoaster of emotions. But I’m glad I was there. The resilience, the belief in themselves and the way they never give up, no matter what, feels very English to me.”

England, the defending champions, will now meet Italy in Geneva on Tuesday for a place in the final. Holden-Morris, who has been following the Lionesses since the 2019 World Cup, said: “They’ve showed that champions, even when they don’t have their best day, can find a way to win. I’m hopeful we can get to a final and win it. If we can come back from last night’s situation, we can do anything.”

The late-night drama attracted a peak audience of 7.4 million viewers on BBC One, the highest figures of Euro 2025 so far. That represented a 65% audience share and there were also nearly 3m online streams of the match across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport.

Keir Starmer was among the TV viewers and, according to a Downing Street spokesperson, the prime minister was “as rapt with nerves as the rest of us” during the shootout. A government minister is due to attend Tuesday’s match.

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