Stanway reflects on impulsive moment which took Lionesses into semis
Georgia Stanway expressed her delight after sealing England’s dramatic Euro 2022 quarter-final win over Spain with a stunning strike, admitting: “I don’t know why I shot but I’m glad I did”.
The tournament hosts progressed to the semis after coming from behind at the Amex Stadium, with substitute Ella Toone equalising in the 84th minute to cancel out EstherGonzalez’s54th-minute openerbeforeStanway’sshowstopper in the sixth minute of extra-time secured a 2-1 victory.
The midfielder, who has joined Bayern Munich this summer after leaving Manchester City, collected the ball from Keira Walsh, drove towards the box and sent a wonderful shot flying past the diving Sandra Panos from around 20 yards out.
It was a second goal of the tournament for Stanway, the otherbeingapenaltyinthe8-0 group-stage thrashing of Norway at the same stadium.
The23-year-old,scorerof11 goals in 38 England caps overall,said:“Alotofthegirlsbefore thegamehavesaidtomeIneed toshootmore,becausecoming into this tournament, I’d not had masses of efforts on goal.
“I don’t know why I shot, I don’t know what came over me. Usually I would probably passthatballtothewingerand expect the ball to be put back in the box. But I just thought ‘whatistheworstthatcanhappen?’
“I think it was because nobody came to me. I’d expect a defender to step out to me and putmeundersomepressureor challengemydecision-making. But nobody came to me, and I feel like when the defender makes the decision for me, it’s easier. I honestly don’t know why I shot but I’m glad I did.”
Asked if it was the greatest moment of her career so far, Stanway said: “Yeah, probably. It all feels like a massive blur at the moment. I need to watch it back and see where I was, how it went in the net, I literally can’t remember.
“I remember saying to one of the girls ‘at what moment did we actually score?’ The celebrationsattheendshowed how much it meant to us and the fans were unbelievable.”
The atmosphere of elation at the end of the match, which had a crowd of 28,994 in attendance, was some contrast tothefeelingofincreasingtension around the stadium that had preceded Toone’s leveller, with Sarina Wiegman’s side having struggled to find much rhythm against a composed Spain outfit ranked one place higher than them at seventh in the world.