Lionesses fans recall drama of semis victory

For those among England's travelling support whose energy had not been entirely sapped by another night of knife-edge drama at Euro 2025, the victory against Italy was an excuse to power through and party.

- Nick Ames

Geneva is hardly known for its midweek nightlife but more than a dozen fans found a way to celebrate before boarding the first train north at 4.45am yesterday.

Among them was a group of five who had travelled without overnight accommodation, returning eventually to their campsite in Lucerne. The tournament has reached that heady stage where plans are patched together on the hoof; there is something about the logistical dilemmas behind plotting routes to a major final that clears tired minds.

Others with more carefully laid itineraries were still trying to make sense of it all. "A lot of emotions," said 15-year-old Izzy, who was travelling with her mother, Emma. "It was so nerve-wracking. Then Michelle Agyemang scored and we just flipped." The pair were sitting two rows from the pitch at Stade de Genève, level with the halfway line, offering an intense picture of those frantic final moments when England pulled it out of the fire again.