Extra-Time Magic: Spain and England Through to Euro 2025 Final

The semi-finals of Euro 2025 certainly lived up to the drama and made for a great watch for neutrals, with underdogs Italy taking the lead against defending champions England and looking all but certain to head to the final. Agyemang's late equaliser and Chloe Kelly's last-minute goal showed England's determination to reach a second-consecutive Euro Final.

In the second semi-final, it was Germany against World Champions Spain in what was set to be a heavyweight clash, and although the quality of the game wasn't quite what it was billed to be, it was as close as expected.

Like England's Kelly, Spain's Aitana Bonmati produced a crucial moment at a crucial time, firing her country into the Euro 2025 final.

Semi-Final One: England vs Italy

The Lionesses are heading to a consecutive European Championship final after defeating Italy 2-1 in a semi-final that was full of drama.

Italy took the lead with their first shot of the game through Barbara Bonansea in the 33rd-minute, and for the majority of the game, England struggled to find a proper chance to get back into the game.

However, England dug deep and left it late with Michelle Agyemang becoming the hero once again, giving England another lifeline and sending them to another period of extra time, this time with a 96th-minute equaliser.

Extra time provided an even affair with chances for both sides until a defensive mishap from Emma Severini resulting in a foul on Beth Mead, handing England a last-gasp penalty.

After Chloe Kelly stepped up to the spot and had her shot saved by Laura Giuliani, the Arsenal winger was too quick for any incoming Italian players and scored the rebound, sending England to the final in Basel to defend their European crown.

In the end England proved that the resilience that brought them to the knockout stages has successfully brought them through to the semi-final, proving why they are reigning European champions.

As for Italy, whilst they may feel hard done by for how they conceded the penalty that lead to England's winning goal, they ultimately overachieved and were certainly the tournament's dark horses as not many expected them to get this far.

With this experience at Euro 2025, there is clear progression towards and hope for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, and with Italy's bid one of the five being considered for selection for Euro 2029 at the UEFA General Assembly in December, women's football in Italy might just be getting started.

Semi Final Two: Germany vs Spain

The second semi-final of Euro 2025 was even closer than the first with neither team able to break the deadlock. German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger being the most important player on the pitch with five crucial saves to keep the scoreline level, but the former Chelsea keeper wasn't able to prevent Bonmati's late strike.

Whilst Spain started to find their groove close to the end of the first half, Germany's physicality had seemed to rattle Spain across the first 45 minutes causing them not to make anything meaningfully from the quantity of chances they had in comparison to Germany.

The stalemate continued into the second half with neither side really finding a great opportunity to finally take the lead, despite being the reverse of the first half with Spain dominating across most of the stats.

Germany had a perfect chance to score a late winner but were denied with a great double save from Cata Coll which was enough to send the game to extra time and avoid what would for Spain have been considered an early exit.

Both sides continued to struggle in finding a way to break the deadlock and ultimately it could only be one player with Aitana Bonmati finding the right angle to slot the ball perfectly past Berger and fire Spain towards the final.

This goal in the 113th-minute completely depleted Germany's momentum as Spain continued to press and try and force their opponents into making a mistake when pushing for another goal to double their lead. In truth a second Spanish goal looked far more likely than a German equaliser.

Despite Germany pushing for an equaliser to send the game to a penalty shootout they simply couldn't repeat the heroics of the quarter-final and ultimately ran out of steam and will be heading home earlier than planned.

Spain made history with this result with it being their first competitive win against Germany and reaching their first ever European final in the aim to upset England again and add yet another trophy to their cabinet; they would become the first team in men's or women's football to hold the World Cup, Euros and Nations League titles at the same time.