Euros win one of the most magnificent heists in the history of English sport | Jonathan Liew | OneFootball

They thought it was all over. Quite a few times, in fact. Written off after their opening game against France; knocked to the canvas in their quarter-final against Sweden; behind with seconds remaining of their semi-final against Italy; a goal down against the world champions in the final. England have cheated death so many times in Switzerland this month to have become basically uninsurable.

But these Lionesses are also escapologists. And on a breezy night in Basel it was once again the strains of Sweet Caroline playing over the stadium sound system. Once again Leah Williamson holding aloft the European Championship trophy. Victory was secured on penalties against Spain, the final plot twist of what will surely be remembered as one of the most magnificent heists in the history of English sport.

So the three years of hurt are over. And in so doing Sarina Wiegman’s side have secured what no other football team from these islands have managed to secure: a dynasty. An enduring record of excellence, a reputation for guts and grace under pressure that will sustain English football for generations to come. New stars in Hannah Hampton and Michelle Agyemang. And if victory three summers ago was a project blown to fruition by the happy winds of home advantage, this was a triumph earned in the teeth of a roaring gale.

Has there ever been a team so comfortable in adversity, so nonchalant in the face of certain disaster, so accustomed to a state of emergency? Even if at times their difficulties have been self-inflicted, there is also a richly stirring quality to the way England have calmly picked their way through every obstacle placed in their path. Whatever has been required – last-minute winners, desperate tactics, the nation of Sweden suddenly forgetting en masse how to take a penalty – somehow they have mustered it.

And so at a quarter to eight local time, Chloe Kelly of Arsenal stood over her final assignment. For Kelly, the scorer of the iconic winning goal at Wembley in 2022, in particular this has been a scarcely believable narrative arc: frozen out by her club Manchester City, dropped by Wiegman in February, and yet ending the season a Champions League winner with Arsenal. This summer she has been England’s ace in the pack, coming off the bench against tired defences and totally changing the dynamics of the game.

Here, Kelly was introduced shortly before the end of a first half in which England were again sinking fast. Mariona Caldentey had scored the opening goal for Spain, the culmination of an exquisite and very Spanish move: almost a minute of patient passing, clever baiting and sneaky decoy runs, finished with a bullet header. This is the deadly delight of Spain in microcosm: the ability to bide their time, keep you guessing, keep you chasing, and of course keep the ball in the process.

How do you counter it? Two years ago, at the World Cup final in Sydney, England had no answers. But Arsenal’s unlikely Champions League triumph over Barcelona in May had offered a template: patience and composure to keep the ball under pressure, restless aggression to win it back. For much of the first half, England had been the reverse: too frenetic in possession, too passive out of it. Lauren James, patently unfit, was replaced with Kelly, and immediately England had a more direct threat on the left flank. Which created space further back.

Keira Walsh had been tightly marked by the great Alexia Putellas all game, but when Putellas failed to follow her, Walsh had time to turn and find Georgia Stanway on the edge of midfield. Stanway found Kelly, and her cross was met by a quite remarkable header by Alessia Russo: off balance, leaping away from goal, a neck of wrought iron, a forehead like an anvil, a goal of pure training and pure technique and above all pure longing. It was 57 minutes and England were level.

Overall this was one of the best games of the tournament in terms of quality. There were great performances all over the field: from Williamson and Stanway and Russo and Walsh and the restored Jess Carter and Hampton in goal. Yet Spain, driven by the magnificent Aitana Bonmatí and Patri Guijarro in midfield, carried on creating: a tally of 22 shots to eight a measure of their attacking supremacy, a reminder of England’s reliance on scrambling defence, blocks and saves, grapples and ricochets and occasionally blind luck. Salma Paralluelo’s miss from two yards in extra time was the moment that will haunt Spain’s players well into the early hours.

And so, with a kind of grim inevitability, to penalties. But without the foreboding that has stalked so many English teams of the past: under the leadership of Wiegman, England had never lost on penalties in three shootouts. The victory over Sweden last week – albeit one strongly tinged with farce – was still fresh in the memory. And here again, against a team convinced they should have won in regular time, England believed harder, stayed calmer, treated the shootout as an experience to be relished and not survived.

Beth Mead missed the opening penalty. Well, it wouldn’t be “proper England” without a little intrigue. Hampton, a goalkeeper enjoying a breakthrough tournament, saved from Caldentey and Bonmatí to give England the edge. Williamson put her penalty too close to Cata Coll. Paralluelo slammed hers wide. And so here we were again: Kelly with the ball, all alone in this great green pasture, every eye on her, just as she likes it.

Kelly had missed against Italy. Somehow she was never going to miss here. The penalty disappeared into the top corner, and somehow Kelly disappeared with it: into the great green beyond, swamped by white shirts and the good tidings of a grateful nation. And in these past three years women’s football in England has catapulted itself into the mainstream. The players are cover stars; big stadiums sell out year on year; the long reactionary tail of cynicism and misogyny has been silenced.

And of course for all its adhesive, addictive qualities women’s football is still not a perfect sport, still a place occasionally riven by tribalism and inequality, plagued by issues of representation and access. Still, anyone who was at Wembley three years ago for that first great awakening could be forgiven for wondering how that experience could ever be matched; how these players could ever summon the vivid adrenaline highs of that afternoon. As it turned out: it was so nice, they had to do it twice.

Header image: [Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP]