Millie Bright praised England’s “incredible” mentality in coming back from a goal down to score the winner in extra time in the Euro 2022 quarter-final against Spain.
The tournament hosts’ future in the competition was threatened when Esther González’s 54th-minute goal gave Spain the lead before Ella Toone took the game into extra time with an equalizer six minutes from time. regulatory.
Georgia Stanway then made it a night the 28,994 fans in the crowd would remember by firing off a stunner in extra time to send England to the semi-finals in a fourth successive major tournament.
“I think everyone can see the talent of the Spanish team and what they have to offer in the game and we knew we wouldn’t have the ball as much,” said Bright, who was voted man of the match. after victory.
“I think our mentality of staying relentless for every minute of the game was amazing and I think we showed who we were.”
Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman returned to the bench for the clash after missing the final group game against Northern Ireland after testing positive for Covid-19.
Wiegman was only confirmed to be on the bench on the afternoon of the quarterfinals, and she admitted that emotions were running high after the match.
“I think I went a little crazy,” admitted the head coach.
“I was so happy, of course you try to stay calm, but this was so close and it was such a close game that it could go both ways the whole time, so I was so happy that I won.”
He added: “I think we showed resistance so we fell behind and then from the 80th minute on we changed form a bit and scored a goal very quickly so we could get back into form and into extra time the moment we scored. we were a little better, we were a little fresher.
“For the fans in the stadium and for the people watching on TV, it was an amazing game and also for the fans in the stadium, they were so behind us it was really amazing to experience.”
Spain head coach Jorge Vilda admitted it was a difficult day for his team after they dominated possession on the south coast.
“It is a disappointing and disappointing loss to come out of this competition. If there’s a good way to lose, I think it’s playing the kind of game my players played tonight,” Vilda said.
“We are all very proud of what we saw on the pitch, we gave it our all and now we have to keep our heads up.
“We have a very good team here, there is a bright future ahead of us based on what we have seen in this tournament.
“It’s a difficult day for us.”
