Lionesses big favourites as they prepare to take on Italy

Around the England camp, there’s a different air. The squad insist they are fully focused on today’s Euro 2025 semifinal against Italy, but it’s not quite a case of drawing a line under the week’s big story, in the way that often happens in such situations. Certainly for games of this magnitude.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

By contrast, many of the players want to use the occasion to draw attention to the stand they’re trying to make. They wanted to “send a message to the world”, in the words of Sarina Wiegman.

The pre-match press conference in Geneva was dominated by discussion of Jess Carter, and her decision to take a “step back” from social media after suffering racist abuse.

Some of the players remain infuriated by it all. Wiegman and Georgia Stanway were fully composed by the time it came to talk, but this wasn’t a case of now setting it all aside.

Stanway explained the rationale behind no longer taking the knee, and even addressed some criticism that stance has received from some quarters.

“We felt like the knee was just a little bit repetitive,” Stanway said. “We felt like it’s come to a point where the knee isn’t doing what we wanted it to do.”

Wiegman of course backed up her midfielder, stating: “It’s really sad we have to discuss this. It goes beyond football.”

That has generally been true of her team. In what is obviously a transformative era for women’s football, England have been one of the pioneering sides in marrying football success with social impact.

This match might even be a defining occasion in that regard, as England stand on the brink of a third successive final at a Euros or World Cup, and Wiegman herself looks to her fifth.

There is of course an awkward but inevitable question from all that, that does feel a little incongruous given the seriousness of the matter the players are discussing. Football does have to be played, after all.