Women’s Euro 2025: England v Italy, semi-final news and buildup – live | Women’s Euro 2025

Some pre-match reading to get you’se in the mood, starting with Nick Ames’s scene-setter:

In practice nothing comes easily at this stage. It has been tempting to bill this assignment as an inconvenience before an inevitable appearance in the final on Sunday. England negotiated a fiendish group that included France and the Netherlands, their performances mixed, and it felt significant that they overcame a fine Sweden side. Italy are surprise contenders who benefited from appearing in the easier half of the draw. From the outside, it seems England have done the hard part.

There is a different feeling inside the camp. “I think it would be really disrespectful to Italy to think we’re favourites,” Wiegman said. “They made the semi-final just like we did and that’s very impressive for any team. Complacency is the biggest mistake you can make. We will have to be at our very, very best to win.”

While Suzanne Wrack reports from the pre-match presser, where Sarina Wiegman spoke of England’s readiness for the challenge and of the “character” shown by Jess Carter following the hideous racist abuse she received after the Sweden match:

Although it is a hard situation, Jess is a very strong person and she wants to move on, too. She also felt – as we did – that we had to address this. You can’t just let it go, so we did not.

“Then we know that there’s a match going on: we want to perform, we’re ready to perform, she’s ready to perform and compete, and that says a lot about her and the team.”