Beautiful craziness!, British media hails England victory in crazy shootout

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Soccer Football - UEFA Womens Euro 2025 - Quarter Final - Sweden v England - Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich, Switzerland - July 17, 2025 Englands Alessia Russo, Englands Esme Morgan and Englands Beth Mead celebrate winning the penalty shootout REUTERS/Matthew Childs

British media has hailed Englands great escape in the quarter-finals of Womens Euro 2025 after the Lionesses battled from two goals down to beat Sweden in a surreal penalty shootout and keep their title defence alive.

The Zurich shootout featured 14 penalties before England prevailed 3-2 with Lionesses goalkeeper Hannah Hampton emerging as the unlikely hero having been thrust into the spotlight in her first major tournament.

Beautiful craziness! trumpeted the Daily Mail, while The Sun led with Cats With Nine Lives and The Times declared Hannah Hampton the England hero in ridiculous penalty shoot-out.

If this team was a cat, seven of nine lives would have been used up on this rollercoaster ride, but here they were: still standing, still fighting, Dominic King wrote in the Daily Mail.

The Times said it had looked like England were on their way out when they trailed 2-0 after 25 minutes before goals from Lucy Bronze and teenager Michelle Agyemang sent the game to extra time.

Yes, England were abysmal for 70 minutes, but who cares? Kit Shepard wrote.

Once Sarina Wiegman finally made some substitutions in this epic quarter-final, they recovered from 2-0 down, held on heroically in extra time and