The one thing standing between England and the Euro 2025 final

There is one thing standing in the way of England reaching a third straight major final – Italy.

While le Azzurre were many people’s tips as the dark horses for the Euros, reaching a first semi-final in 28 years is still a surprise. 1997 seems to be a seminal year for Italian women’s football, with seven of the 23 players in the squad for this tournament born in that year.

However, the oldest member of the squad is perhaps the biggest reason Italy have got to the last four. Cristiana Girelli is unparalleled in modern Italian women’s football. She sits third on the all-time scorers list for her country, having netted 61 times across 122 appearances.

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The 35-year-old scored both of Italy’s goals in the 2-1 win over Norway in the quarter-finals, the second a late winner. She was practically given a victory lap around the pitch at the Stade de Geneve when taken off in the dying seconds of the tie.

England’s aim will be to deny her another one, and statistics may be on their side.

Italy’s biggest margin of victory ever at the tournament is 2-0, the scoreline by which England came back from against Sweden. Similarly, they have won only three of their 15 knockout matches, whereas the Lionesses have a healthy record of nine wins from 17 matches.

However, if this Euros has taught us anything, statistics don’t matter. And if you ask the Lionesses, they are less focused on disarming Italy and more on how to make themselves bulletproof.

"[The training session] was mainly focusing on us and our super strengths and being back on the rhythm of being on the pitch and getting connected again,” Grace Clinton said on That Lionesses Podcast. “For the Italy game, we just need to be at our best and not underestimate them as a team because they have got so far in the competition, they have done so well against other teams.

“So, the main focus is, don’t underestimate them, they are a very good side and stick to doing our strengths well.”

It is a fair approach, on England’s best day, they have more than enough firepower to get past Italy. The issue is the Lionesses’ best day has not been seen for several games, with Sarina Wiegman’s side in a worrying cycle of good results followed by bad.

Once you are into the knockout stages, that should spell departure before the final. But somehow, England survived against Sweden to make it through, and that definitely was a bad game.

If the past couple of years if the Lionesses are to be followed, and with Wiegman reluctant to change her starting line-up, England should be in much better form.

So that means that really the one thing standing in the way of the Lionesses reaching a third straight major final isn’t Italy, it’s England.