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England midfielder, Georgia Stanway has hailed an “unreal” winner as she struck in extra-time to complete the Lionesses’ comeback Quarter-Final win against Spain.
Tournament hosts, England entered this match on a wave of optimism but were stunned by a 54th minute strike from Spain’s Esther Gonzalez to concede for the first time in the tournament, although her 77th minute substitution allowed the Lionesses back into the match.
Ella Toone consequently blasted in from a 84th minute knockdown header from her Manchester United teammate – Alessia Russo to equalise, whilst Stanway completed their comeback with a stunning 96th minute strike in extra-time.
“It’s unreal, that just shows the level we are at,” commented Stanway as she believes that this victory underlined England’s quality and depth as she added: “We get a setback and we come back and we do it.”
Stanway proceeded to admit that she was slightly nervous as she unleashed her winning goal from just outside of the box, as she said: “I wasn’t too sure [if it was going in] but it is definitely one to be proud of.”
The Barrow-born midfielder also praised her teammates but iterated that they will saviour the win but quickly switch focus to the semi-finals where Sweden or Belgium await at Bramall Lane on Tuesday 26 July at 8pm BST.
“I will remember today, the other girls put in a massive shift. There is not much else I can say apart from we are going to enjoy this moment and crack on.” said Stanway of her teammates’ performances.
Stanway’s strike in particular drew praise from captain, Leah Williamson as she commented: “I’ve seen her [Stanway] do that all her career so I wasn’t surprised, just more relieved that she did it so early into extra time. As soon as it left her foot I could see it.”
Williamson though added that she was proud of the “fight” shown by everyone on the pitch but believes that the comeback goals will do “… a lot for your confidence and the emotion we finished that game with was unbelievable.”
On the opportunity to have faced tough competition after cruising through the Group Stage in which the Lionesses netted 14 goals without conceding, Williamson stated that it was “important” to have a difficult Quarter-Final test to expose the squad to difficult opposition.
The 25 year-old therefore was proud of how her teammates approached the Quarter-Final as she commented: “Regardless of the opposition, that’s the first test we have had in the tournament and it is important we played with our hearts.”
England Lionesses manager, Sarina Wiegman meanwhile admitted that she wasn’t surprised by the difficulty of the match, as she revealed that she is “so incredibly happy,” with how her team fought from behind to win against the pre-tournament favourites.
Wiegman had only left self-isolation yesterday (20 July) after having missed last week’s win over Northern Ireland due to a positive Coronavirus test, but was proud of the quality that both teams offered last night.
As she reflected post-match on the performance, Wiegman stated that she felt that both teams were eager to win the game as she praised Spain for their tactics, as she said: “Spain are very good in a possession game so that was hard for us to press the ball, stay compact but we had moments in the game where we were good on the ball where we created chances in front of the goal.”
On what the match itself means for the image of women’s football moving forward, Wiegman commented: “It’s a really big commercial for women’s football.”
Wiegman then turned focus to her England Lionesses as she praised them for their unity and ability to adapt after conceding first, as she continued: “There was so much cohesion in this team that we knew that if we were behind, we could make a shape change and the team did really well on execution.”
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