Lionesses relishing the added pressure

LAUREN Hemp feels England are thriving under the pressure of entering their Euro 2025 qualifiers as first-time defending champions.

The Lionesses could only muster a 1-1 draw with Sweden to open their qualifying campaign on Friday night at Wembley, with the Republic of Ireland to come on Tuesday, then France to conclude the competition’s first window.

Friday marked the first meeting between England and Sweden since their semi-final at Euro 2022, when England triumphed 4-0 en route to the Wembley final and their first major tournament trophy.

Asked if having a bigger target on the Lionesses’ backs is to their benefit, Hemp replied: “Yes. It’s great for us. We are European champions, and we want to keep that, so it’s important for us to win as many games as possible and get ourselves back in and among it.

“It’s good to have people come up and be like, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got England’, that’s what we want to be. We want to be a hard-working team, hard to beat.

“I think it’s great having that,” she added.

Friday’s stalemate was certainly a much more even encounter between World Cup runnersup England and last summer’s bronze medallists, with Peter Gerhardsson’s side at times looking like the stronger opponent, particularly towards the closing stages of the first half.

Alessia Russo nodded home a fine Lauren James delivery to put her side in front inside 24 minutes, but the Arsenal forward’s maiden Wembley goal was cancelled out by Fridolina Rolfo after the break and the Lionesses could not find a winner in a latestage rally.