Girelli's Late, Late Show Puts Italy in Last Four

Jubilant Italy reached their first major women's tournament semifinal since 1997 as Cristiana Girelli's 90th-minute header beat a Norway side who had seen their captain Ada Hegerberg miss a crucial penalty earlier in the second half.

- Tom Garry

Norway, managed by the former Wales coach Gemma Grainger, were disappointing for the first hour of the contest but appeared to be the stronger side in the latter stages after equalising through Hegerberg's low finish in normal play, before Girelli's back-post header won the game with her second goal of the match and sent the Italians wild.

For both Norway and Italy this tie had represented a priceless opportunity to reach a semi-final, after the draw in December had been relatively kind to them. They had both been eliminated at the group stage of the 2017 and 2022 editions of the Euros. They had both given their supporters cause for optimism during their group matches and knew the heavyweight contenders were all in action later this week in the other last-eight fixtures. Perhaps, with that, came a few nerves too.