Chloe Kelly picked her moment to help England Women come from behind to beat Sweden Women in the Women’s Euro 2025 quarter-final.
All eyes will have been on Kelly on Thursday. The day started with her club, Arsenal, breaking the world transfer record in signing Olivia Smith for £1million from fellow Women’s Super League side Liverpool. This move comes not long after Kelly made her loan move to Arsenal permanent, having been frustrated with a lack of game time at Manchester City.
But questions were raised by some fans about Kelly’s situation with Smith joining Arsenal. Smith, like Kelly, is predominantly a right-winger. And a club is surely going to favour their £1m signing over a free transfer. So, why did Kelly make the move? We don’t know what Renee Slegers has played for Arsenal just yet, but Kelly did her talking on the pitch for England.
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England’s best finisher?
Kelly did have to wait to take her moment, once again starting as a substitute. Despite writing her name in the history books at Women’s Euro 2022, Kelly hasn’t really been a starter for England. Her last competitive start came in a 3-2 win over the Netherlands in the 2023-24 Uefa Nations League, way back in December 2023. She’s certainly one of Sarina Wiegman’s favourite “finishers”.
“We have a little group of us, the finishers, the positive click we call it,” Kelly told reporters before the game of the group of substitutes.
She added: “We work really hard on the training pitch, in the gym, making sure we’re prepared when we go on to the pitch and we have a great group of girls so it’s about enjoying the whole experience as a group.”
While Kelly is a right-winger, she came on for England against Sweden on the left. The Arsenal winger replaced Beth Mead, with Wiegman going for a makeshift attacking lineup chasing the two-goal deficit. It was desperation time. And Sweden looked to be cruising to a much-deserved 2-0 victory.
A nightmare start
While England were the authors of their own misfortune, Sweden applied the pressure to force early errors. Jess Carter was their target, and the Gotham FC defender produced two poor passes in the opening minutes. The first went out of play and was almost intercepted, though England were unfortunate not to be awarded the throw. The second was intercepted and caught Keira Walsh short. The Chelsea midfielder then rushed her own pass, which went straight a Swedish shirt. Sweden didn’t have far to go to the England box, with Blackstenius playing the ball across to the open Kosovare Asllani. The London City Lioness midfielder had found the space left by Carter, who had gone towards the ball. Asllani’s finish was good, but this was a calamity from England.
Moments later, it could have been 2-0. Again it was a Carter pass catching a teammate short, though goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was a bit too casual in trying to receive. She was closed down by Blackstenius who won the ball, but fortunately for England Leah Williamson was back to block the shot on the line.
The second goal did eventually come, midway through the first half. This time it was a turnover in the middle of the Swedish half, but Julia Zigiotti Olme bypassed the England defence with an excellent pass to Blackstenius. The Arsenal striker outpaced Carter on her way into the box and finished through Hampton, who perhaps should have done better. Fingers were once again pointed at England’s defending.
History makers
England’s title defence looking to be petering out. And then Kelly came on with 12 minutes left to play. With 11 minutes left on the clock, Kelly had set up Lucy Bronze to get a goal back for England. The Arsenal winger worked herself into a good position and put a lovely ball to the back post for Bronze to nod home.
In the 81st minute, England were level. Again it came from excellent work by Kelly on the left, this time nutmegging her marker before putting the ball into the box. It didn’t immediately reach an England player but the Swedish defence found it hard to deal with. And then it fell to fellow substitute Michelle Agyemang who slotted home.
During her time on the pitch, Kelly completed one take-on, created two chances and 11 touches. She had Sweden running scared going into extra-time. And Kelly’s success will have Arsenal manager Slegers dreaming of potentially playing her on the left, with Smith on the right.
It was the first time a team had come from two goals down in the knockout stages of a Women’s European Championship in the competition’s history. The question was, could England complete the turnaround?
A dramatic end
The game went all the way to penalties, and it was as dramatic as it came. England won the shootout 3-2, but there were 14 penalties taken. Four of England’s were saved by Jennifer Falk in the Sweden goal. But she couldn’t keep out Alessia Russo, Kelly — who remains an absurd penalty taker — and Lucy Bronze.
Hannah Hampton saved two, including Filippa Angeldal’s first and Sofia Jakobsson who had the chance to win it in sudden death. Magdalena Eriksson hit the post, while Falk and Smilla Holmberg missed the target.
England know they have to do much better if they are to harbour serious hopes of retaining their crown. But for now it’s time for celebration, before all eyes turn to Italy in the semi-final.