Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature We can talk about the tactical move of the corner change yesterday. Chloe Kelly had stepped up to take the corner but Lauren Hemp came on and they switched. Hebb thundered it into the box and Kelly kicked the winning goal. Master class. One player I felt sorry for yesterday was Alexandra Popp. She starred at her first Euro after injury ruled her out in 2013 and 2017 and broke the scoring record this year. She had to withdraw from the final after pulling a muscle in the warm-up, ending her tournament. Photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images Mary Earps, the goalkeeper who conceded the fewest goals in the tournament, all: Ella Toone, who scored important goals against Spain and Germany, said: “I think a lot of people have fallen in love with women’s football this summer. That’s what we set out to do. So hopefully the crowds we had this summer we can get into our stadiums at club level and a few more fans in the stadium will be on the journey with us.” Tony got in touch, mentioning Frank Lampard’s ghost goal and said: “Because England are always so lucky when they play Germany, aren’t they?” So was it handball? From these photos it definitely was. Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images Updated at 11.55 BST Kate Connolly Our reporter Kate Connolly in Berlin has some insight into the German grief: As the German soccer team licks its wounds after its defeat at Wembley, at least some of the frustration is channeled into speculation about whether the team was treated fairly, even if they were cheated of victory. In particular, there is a debate about whether the referees overlooked what is referred to as a “pure case of handball” in the 25th minute of the match. Fury spills over from tabloid Bild. Under the headline: ‘Anger at scandal refs’, the newspaper writes, ‘it is clear that England player Leah Williamson was playing the ball at shoulder level, with her hand’. He blames referee Kateryna Monzul for not seeing it as a handball, while video referees Paolo Valeri and Pol van Bockel came to the joint conclusion that it was not a penalized move, “So they didn’t even check the scene! ” states Bild. The tabloid confronted Monzul about her decision after the match, asking: “What happened in the 25th minute to England’s handball?” Monzul, he said, “shrugged and held out her hands in an apologetic manner and left. No explanation.” The tabloid then proceeded to tackle Valerie after the match ended in the Mixed Zone. His reply was: “Non posso dire niente, mi dispiace” – or “I can’t say anything, I’m sorry”. Bild translates it more crudely in German as: “Sorry, I was silenced.” He accuses the British press of refusing to even discuss the issue. Later, in a widely reported media interview, Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was also critical of the decision: “At this level in a European Championship final something like this shouldn’t happen,” she said. “I would like to have a discussion about this. But what I don’t want is for it to be ignored.” In a separate commentary, Bild goes so far as to compare what it calls the “fraudulent” result to Germany’s men’s defeat at Wembley by England in the 1966 World Cup. Germany weeps with our female footballers and fumes over this new Wembley scam! With this 1-2 extra-time defeat, we were cheated again almost 56 years after the Wembley goal scandal,” he writes. Spiegel referred to the “uproar over a handball” which it said could have turned the game in Germany’s favour. He reported that Voss-Tecklenburg politely said that while Germany should have been awarded a penalty, in her opinion, England were deserved winners after the 120-minute match. “They played themselves into a lot of people’s hearts,” he said. Die Zeit said it was clear the match “could have ended differently if the referee, Kateryna Monsul, had recognized Leah Williamson’s handball in the 25th minute. According to the Regulation it should have led to a penalty, maybe even a red card. But neither the referee, who is probably shocked anyway, nor the video assistants wanted to admit that they had seen anything. Which led to quite a bit of discussion afterwards.” Meanwhile, Germany are surprisingly already looking to next year’s World Cup to get their revenge. Updated at 11.36 BST Our very own Suzy Wrack is in Trafalgar Square for the Lionesses victory celebrations! The event will be broadcast live on BBC One at 12.35pm and there are already huge crowds: There is a more iconic couple than these two: 17.4 million watched in the UK last night and now a reported 17.897 million watched in Germany. I’d love to have a chat with someone who says no one cares about women’s football… 17.897 million people watched the #WEURO2022 final between England and Germany on ARD last night. That’s a 64.8 percent market share. Incredible number and a new record for a women’s football match on ARD. 🙏https://t.co/UQFXf1u9ic — Jasmina Schweimler (@JasSchweimler) August 1, 2022 Magnus has arrived and agrees with the German coach about handball, he said: “Pop out, wrong decision in the 25th minute, German penalty should have been given, VAR in this Euro was terrible. England are lucky, but you have to do it anyway.” Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg says she is “hurt” that the referee did not check the potential handball in the first half, she is convinced it was a penalty. “First half, possession was better for England so they pressed us more, we got a few free-kicks that were a bit lackluster at times, but we managed to get some attacks going,” he said. “There was a situation at 0-0 where there was clear handball in the penalty area. VAR looked but didn’t award it. In such a game it is difficult to deal with it. Why didn’t the referee look? That hurts a little.” Photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images Tony was in touch and suggested the Lionesses do a new celebratory song: “After Williamson’s remarkable interview on the pitch after the match (well done Natalie Perks for keeping it together, by the way) can England adopt the Who song” The are you guys ok”?” That’s a great suggestion, I’d love to see it. Have you seen anyone cooler than Rachel Daly? The Lightning Seeds, David Baddiel and singer-songwriter-footballer Chelcee Grimes played a special concert on Saturday with former Lionesses including Anta Asante and Faye White. They performed the famous ‘It’s Coming Home’ with new lyrics that include names of England players. Read the lyrics below and a look at the performance. I really hope they release it as a separate song. Cameron got in touch and asked: “Is there a ‘high curtain’ match between the WSL champions and the FA Women’s Cup winners?” Chelsea won both competitions but I don’t think there will be a single match between the Blues and another team before the season starts. There was much talk of how the FA’s investment in the women’s game helped produce the result last night. Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl agrees, the tweet “shows that when you invest correctly, results come quickly”. Impressed with the development of the @Lionesses over the last few years. Beating Germany in a final is big. Congratulations! It also shows that when you invest correctly, results come quickly. Thanks for a great tournament too! @WEURO2022 — Hedvig Lindahl (@hedvig_lindahl) August 1, 2022 Aren’t we all Captain Leah Williamson now? Thanks, John! So, did anyone sleep last night? I spent several hours sharing reels, stories and singing “It’s Coming Home”, although there should be a new version with “It Came Home” now. What a night and what a time for English football. Contact me via Twitter, @rendellx or email to tell me all about your holidays. Sarah Rendell will be your guide from this point. I’ll leave you with this video of the happy scenes after Sunday’s game: ‘We girls ruined it’: England beat Germany to become European champions for the first time – video Thoughts will inevitably turn very quickly to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year (the opening game kicks off in less than 12 months). Here’s Lucy Bronze, speaking after the match on Sunday Winning a Champions League and FA Cup and stuff was always amazing, but my aim was always to win with England. And I would have traded all those trophies before for a night like tonight. So yes, I’m so proud of the fact that we finally got our hands on a trophy, but now we want to get our hands on a World Cup next year. England will certainly go into this tournament with momentum (although strictly speaking they haven’t qualified yet). Usually the European champions have two years to wash off the euphoria of victory, but Wiegman’s side have only one WSL season between them and the World Cup. And the double has been done in the past: Germany followed up their European crowns in 2001 and 2005 with victory on the world stage in 2003 and 2007, while, more recently, the Netherlands reached the final in 2019 following their European victory in 2017 . The viewing figures for Sunday’s final were pretty amazing: England’s win over Germany had a top TV audience* of 17.4 million on the BBC. The highest UK audience for a women’s football match. (*not including people watching in public spaces or the millions of online streams which are not directly comparable and the BBC publishes separately.) — Jim Watterson…
