Alessia Russo pulled off a miraculous backheel finish as England advanced to the final of Euro 2022 beating Sweden 4-0 in Sheffield on Tuesday.
England progressed to their first major final since 2009 as they hammered Europe's highest-ranked team in front of a crowd of nearly 30,000 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.
The Swedes had tested England for large parts of the first half before Arsenal's Beth Mead scored her sixth goal of the tournament to give her side the lead.
Lucy Bronze got on the scoresheet just after the break, before Russo's audacious effort and another goal from Fran Kirby sealed the deal.
This goal from Alessia Russo is something elsepic.twitter.com/LJrDnglu7l
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) July 26, 2022
Their win is the biggest ever margin of victory in a Women's Euros semi-final fixture and is Sweden's heaviest ever defeat in the colmpetition.
England will now play the winners of Germany and France in Sunday's decider at Wembley.
Reaction to Alessia Russo goal
Russo's goal left viewers across the globe stunned.
The Guardian described the goal as "utterly audacious".
Here's how Jonathan Liew summed it up in his write-up today:
Now she was facing away from goal, the angle narrowing, two Swedish defenders attending her every step. This was the point at which most functional human beings would find a teammate and play a safe backward pass.
But Russo has always had a certain taste for the theatrical. And above all, despite not starting a single game in this tournament, she had absorbed the team’s governing ethos: express yourself. Take the risk. Make the difficult decision. Or, in Russo’s case, play an outrageous back-heel through the legs of an astonished Swedish goalkeeper in the semi-finals of a European Championship.
Sky Sports called it "a moment of brilliance".
Reaction poured in on social media to the goal.
What a brilliant finish from @alessiarusso7 to match a brilliant performance from the @Lionesses ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ 👏👏#DoingUsProud #WEURO2022 #ENG
— Michael Owen (@themichaelowen) July 26, 2022
Not gonna lie, that was lit from Russo
— Sam Kerr (@samkerr1) July 26, 2022
I dreamt of scoring a goal like that my whole life. Never happened. @alessiarusso7 take a bow. Go on England.
— Abby Wambach (@AbbyWambach) July 26, 2022
Alessia Russo seeing her first shot get saved… pic.twitter.com/zq3sIWZXaD
— VERSUS (@vsrsus) July 26, 2022
Wow, just completely forgot about my gas bill. Thank you Alessia Russo
— Flo Lloyd-Hughes (@FloydTweet) July 26, 2022
For her part Russo couldn't believe that her effort found the back of the net.
"I could've made it a lot easier for myself if I had just scored the first time," Russo told Sky Sports.
"It fell nicely, I don't really remember too much about it, I just thought that it was the quickest route to get it into the back of the net without having to turn and I was fortunate enough it went in.
I didn't see it so I don't know how it went in but yeah I just celebrated and enjoyed the moment."
Russo and her teammates will hope to be celebrating again on Sunday evening if England can win their first major trophy.
