July 17 – Italy’s Cristiana Girelli notched a last-gasp winner to secure her country’s path into the semi-finals of EURO 2025 at the Stade de Genève on Wednesday at the expense of Norway and Ada Hegerberg.
The 35-year-old striker netted both goals in the 2-1 victory, to set up a semi-final meeting with Sweden or England on Tuesday.
Hegerberg, a legend of the women’s game, equalised Girelli’s initial opener, but also missed a penalty as the two-time winners exited the competition.
Norway’s manager Gemma Grainger responded to the penalty miss by backing the Olympique Lyonnais forward. “She gets the goal after the penalty miss, that tells a lot about her,” said Grainger. “She is an incredible player. It’s heartbreaking to concede so late, it taints the feeling of the game.”
“The margins are tight in the quarter-finals. Our second-half performance was our best performance in the tournament. They had one quality moment at the end. It was an outstanding cross.”
In the absence of Marit Bratberg Lund, Guro Reiten, playing at full back, was exposed as the Italians netted twice in the contest, but Grainger defended her choice to field Reiten in an unusual position.
She explained: “She was outstanding tonight. The goal doesn’t come from anything Reiten does. There are several things that happen. It was down to two, three different things. It’s never down to one player.”
The Norwegians will be left to reflect on what could have been, with opponents Italy reaching their first semi-final in 27 years. At no point did Grainger’s team convince during EURO 2025 despite a squad full of stars. They won all three group games against Switzerland, Finland and Iceland, but were inconsistent.
The manager, however, said that her team had achieved what they wanted at EURO 2025. “We came here as a team and our objective was to get out of the group,” said Grainger. “We achieved that. With the nine points in the group, the players showed who they were. For the first time in twelve years, we qualified from the group.”
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1752768258labto1752768258ofdlr1752768258owedi1752768258sni@i1752768258tnuk.1752768258ardni1752768258mas1752768258