/3007.webp "Alessia Russo – and Sweden’s players – react in disbelief after the England striker’s sublime backheel through the legs of Hedvig Lindahl makes it 3-0 to England. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters")
The Lionesses roared into a first major tournament final since 2009 with a scintillating 4-0 unpicking of Europe’s highest-ranked team, Sweden.
England had not reached a major final since their 6-2 defeat by Germany in Helsinki at Euro 2009 and this team’s terrier-like midfield trio of Fran Kirby, Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh took half an hour before they worked out how to shrug off some physical and snappy Sweden marking which kept the crowd of 28,624 on edge. But Beth Mead’s sixth goal of the tournament lifted the pressure of the occasion before a Lucy Bronze header, an outrageous backheel from Alessia Russo and a Kirby chip booked the team a place in Sunday’s final at Wembley in style.
