England v Italy: Women’s Euro 2025 semi-final – live

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If England are to progress, they’ll need to keep tabs on Cristiana Girelli. The veteran striker has scored 61 goals for her country in 122 appearances, the last two coming last Wednesday to secure victory against Norway. Sophie Downey profiles Le Azzurre’s talisman.

England pushed their luck against Sweden last week, and might not get away with a similar display tonight. Here’s Tom Garry on the ways in which they must improve if they’re to reach a final against either Spain or Germany.

The rest of Sarina Wiegman’s pre-match interview with ITV. “It’s a huge night for everyone … Esme Morgan is ready, she has been ready for a while … she had to wait for that … she showed that the other night … I hope she will do really well … we are going to do our very best to play at our best … let’s see what it brings us … we want to take our game to the next level … we have different challenges … Italy will challenge us again … they have played in different shapes … they are tactical … adapt to what the opponent does … I hope we have the ball a lot and dominate the game … we want to win … at the end it doesn’t matter how but after 90 minutes would be nice.”

Sarina Wiegman is asked by ITV about her decision to replace Jess Carter in defence with Esme Morgan. “The decision is based on the tactical challenges we have, and we think that in this game, it is best to put Esme in. Jess is good. Of course a lot of things going on, but she’s good, she trained well, she is ready to compete and ready to play.”

Both teams make one change to their starting line-up from the quarter-finals. England replace Jess Carter with Esme Morgan, while Italy switch out midfielder Emma Severini for an extra defender in Martina Lenzini. England captain Leah Williamson is good to go despite the ankle problem that required her to wear a protective boot after the Sweden game.

The teams

England: Hampton, Bronze, Williamson, Morgan, Greenwood, Toone, Walsh, Stanway, James, Russo, Hemp.
Subs: Moorhouse, Charles, Mead, Le Tissier, Clinton, Carter, Agyemang, Kelly, Beever-Jones, Park, Wubben-Moy, Keating.

Italy: Giuliani, Lenzini, Salvai, Linari, Di Guglielmo, Caruso, Giugliano, Bonansea, Oliviero, Girelli, Cantore.
Subs: Baldi, Schatzer, Severini, Piemonte, Piga, Bergamaschi, Serturini, Goldoni, Boattin, Greggi, Cambiaghi, Durante.

Referee: Ivana Martincic (Croatia).

The kits. Neither side will wear their first-choice clobber tonight. England eschew their traditional white; hear the roar of the red, black, purple and two different shades of blue. This time, more than any other time. Italy meanwhile will wear green, which makes more sense than the traditional Savoy azure, given their flag, but that ship’s long sailed. Italy wearing adidas is just plain wrong, though. Diadora, yes, Kappa, yes, Le Coq Sportif, yes, even Puma at a push. But adidas? Nein! (And as for Nike getting the Germany gig …)

Tonight’s teams reached the semi-final in exactly the same manner: by doing a number on some Scandinavian dark horses. Relive every dramatic moment of those noir thrillers here.

Preamble

England haven’t brought their best stuff to Euro 2025 yet. Beaten by France, outplayed by Sweden, fortunate to get away with a few missed penalties … and yet here the Lionesses are, in the semi-finals, one step away from the big one. The reigning champions and World Cup finalists have tournament smarts, talent and determination to spare, so if they finally click into gear, well, Europe watch out.

They’ve got a good record against Italy, winning their last two matches against Le Azzurre to the cumulative score of 7-2. So Sarina Wiegman’s women go into this match as favourites. But Italy are on a high, having reached this stage for the first time since 1997, seeing off a very good Norway team, and Wiegman isn’t taking anything for granted. “We will have to be at our very, very best to win,” she says. Kick-off in Geneva is at 8pm UK time. It’s on!