England’s Euro 2022 hero Chloe Kelly cracked a joke about her shirtless celebration during the Lionesses’ victory parade on Monday. The 24-year-old was the centrepiece of an iconic scene as she wheeled away to cheer what turned out to be England’s winner on the day, sealing a second successive European Championships for boss Sarina Wiegman.
Kelly’s input didn’t come until late in the game, with England and Germany embroiled in a tense contest that went to extra time. Ella Toone sparked a frenzy inside Wembley with her superb chip to open the scoring, but Lina Magull brought the crowd crashing down with a 79th-minute equaliser.
The two fatigued sides traded blows in extra time but it was substitute Kelly who made the telling impact, poking home after a scramble in the box to send the Lionesses on their way to glory. She was swarmed by team-mates while swinging her shirt overhead in celebration, which is sure to go down as an iconic moment in English international football.
During a raucous victory parade on Monday, in which most of the squad sported a pair of sunglasses after last night’s celebrations, Kelly joked: “The shirt is staying on!”
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There were a number of other momentous performances for the Lionesses on Sunday, with Keira Walsh notching a remarkable assist for Toone’s opener and Leah Williamson putting in a solid defensive display at centre-back. The result saw Wiegman win her second consecutive Euros five years after doing the same with the Netherlands.
“Unbelievable,” said Wiegman. “I’ve lost my voice a little bit. I think what we’ve done is really incredible. I’m so proud of the team. I think I need a couple of days to realise what we’ve done. It was so tight but who cares.
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“We won 2-1 and we are European champions. If you really want to win and become better every single day, that’s what I have noticed the whole year. It’s been incredible. We agreed a couple of things on behaviours, they weren’t just words, we lived it. And this is the result.”
Williamson gave a similarly passionate speech after the final whistle, claiming that the popularity of the tournament should bring about a change in society and urging fans to show support at WSL matches. “It’s the proudest moment of my life – until the day I have kids I suppose,” she said.
“I am going to lap it up. Every single piece of advice I got was to take every single second in because you’re going to want to relive it over and over and I’ll be reliving that for a long time. With something like this, we talk and talk, and we have finally done it.
“It’s about doing it on the pitch, and I tell you what, the kids are all right. The legacy of this tournament is a change in society. It’s everything we’ve done. We’ve brought everyone together. We’ve got people to come to games and we want them to come to WSL games, but the legacy of this team is winners and this is the start of the journey.”