“The proper England is back,” says Hampton as gritty win sends Lionesses into Euro 2025 semi-finals | OneFootball

“We’re going in the right direction,” proclaimed Hannah Hampton in the early hours of Friday morning at Zurich’s Stadion Letzigrund.

The 24-year-old – thrown into the spotlight in the weeks leading up to UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 following Mary Earps’ shock decision to retire from international football with immediate effect – had just guided England into the semi-finals of that same tournament in dramatic fashion.

Battered, bruised, and with gauze shoved up her nostril to stem the bleeding after a collision deep in extra time, the Chelsea shotstopper produced two saves in a comically bad shootout that saw her opposite number sky a golden opportunity to win the match for Sweden before an 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg suffered the same fate, confirming the Blågult‘s elimination.

England had certainly been made to suffer throughout the evening. Trailing by two goals at the break, the Lionesses looked dead and buried until Chloe Kelly provided two assists within five minutes of her introduction as a second-half substitute. But Sarina Wiegman’s side could not get the job done in regulation time, and grew increasingly tired as the shootout loomed nearer.

Hampton wasn’t the only one who’d been put through the wars. Alex Greenwood suffered a nasty shoulder injury, Lucy Bronze was forced to strap up her own hamstring as if she was preparing a Christmas roast, and captain Leah Williamson was seen hobbling through the mixed zone on crutches.

That mentality, Hampton says, “shows that the proper England is back.”

“Everyone’s a bit battered and bruised, and we’ll definitely take the next couple of days to recover for the next game, but you definitely know that everybody’s got your back out there.”

“Tackles were needed to be made when they did and players took it upon themselves to make sure the team stayed solid throughout so if they had a bit of a niggle, they decided then to come off for someone else who they knew would be 100% to go and make a difference because it was definitely a fine line between the results today,” the Chelsea goalkeeper explained.

Had it not been for Hampton, England’s half-time deficit could have been worse. The 24-year-old couldn’t quite recall the save she made just before the break to deny Fridolina Rolfö the opportunity to bag Sweden’s third – but a marked defensive improvement from the Lionesses kept the Blågult at bay in the second half.

“Everyone knew what the outcome would have been if the scoreline stayed 2-0. We said at half time, ‘we don’t want to go home, so it’s down to us to turn the game around,’ and that we did.”

“I’m just glad that we all stuck together. That’s one thing we never wanted to do, we never wanted to turn on each other because if the outcome was reversed and we were going home, we didn’t want to feel like we all got on each others backs [if] that was the final game.”

Hampton’s heroics may be needed again on Tuesday [20:00 BST, 21:00 CEST], as England prepare to face Italy for a spot in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final on Sunday 27 July.