Andrea Soncin believes Italy delivered “the largest present” after reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2025 with a 2-1 win over Norway on Wednesday.
Soncin watched on as Cristiana Girelli’s Ninetieth-minute winner secured Italy’s place within the closing 4 of a serious competitors for the primary time since 1997.
Italy had opened the scoring within the fiftieth minute by way of Girelli, earlier than Ada Hegerberg, who had missed an earlier penalty, ultimately restored parity 16 minutes later.
And with the sport seemingly heading for further time, Italy captain Girelli headed residence the winner, together with her effort thundering off the underside of the crossbar on its approach in.
It noticed Italy change into solely the second facet ever to attain a Ninetieth-minute successful objective in a Ladies’s Euro knockout match, after Sweden towards Belgium within the 2022 quarter-final.
And at 35 years and 84 days outdated, Girelli turned the oldest ever participant to attain greater than as soon as for a European nation in a single match at a serious event.
She has additionally now scored eight main event objectives (World Cup/Euros), with solely Carolina Morace (12) ever scoring extra for Italy.
Girelli’s successful objective sparked wild scenes inside Stade de Geneve, with Soncin working down the touchline to have a good time together with his crew.
“It’s unimaginable, lovely. In entrance of all these folks, so many messages arrived from Italy the previous couple of days,” Soncin stated.
“It’s one thing incredible. I believe that is the largest present we can provide to all those that watch us, to all these little ladies, these younger ladies who stay soccer with ardour.”
Italy will now face both England or Sweden for a spot within the closing, however for Norway, it was extra heartbreak within the latter levels of a serious event.
Certainly, Norway have now misplaced every of their final three knockout stage video games at main tournaments (World Cup/Euros), their joint-longest such run of defeats (excluding third-place play-offs), additionally shedding three in a row throughout the 1999 Ladies’s World Cup, Ladies’s Euro 2001, and the 2003 Ladies’s World Cup.
And it was additionally a disappointing outing for Norway captain Hegerberg, who turned the primary participant on report (since 2013) to overlook two penalties on the Euros.
“It’s bitter, it’s actually bitter,” Hegerberg stated. “I need to actually say that I’m pleased with the group and the way we have now carried out.
“We’re near being within the prime 4 in Europe, but it surely’s not sufficient.”
Norway have now missed 5 of their six penalties (excluding shootouts) on the Ladies’s Euros on report (from 2013), making them chargeable for precisely half of the spot-kick misses by all sides within the competitors in that point (5 out of 10).