Lionesses legend Chloe Kelly has revealed England's goalkeeper coach told her to "win it" in extra-time to avoid penalty heartbreak in the Euro 2022 final.
Kelly, 24, scored the winner in England's 2-1 triumph against Germany on Sunday to secure the country's first major women's football honour. Ella Toone opened the scoring at Wembley before Germany's Lina Magull found the net to force the game into extra-time.
England fans were fearing the worst as the game approached the 120th minute thanks to memories of yesteryear. The men's team have suffered countless penalty shootout defeats in the past, the most recent of which coming little over 12 months ago.
Gareth Southgate's side reached the final of the men's Euros last summer and the public were hoping they could secure the country's first major honour since the World Cup in 1966. Yet Roberto Mancini's Italy won the shootout at Wembley to break English hearts.
Germany have also inflicted their fair share of pain on England. They defeated the Three Lions on penalties in the World Cup semi-final in 1990 and achieved the same result at the Euros six years later. In total, the men have lost seven shootouts at major tournaments.
Yet Kelly insists the women weren't bothered about England's previous failures. "I don't think the girls ever thought of penalties, even against Spain [in the quarter-finals]," she told GMB on Tuesday morning. "We thought we were going to win in extra-time, we were going to win it in normal time. We weren't really looking at penalties."
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Instead, Kelly was inspired to score the winner in extra-time after a conversation with goalkeeper coach Darren Ward. The Manchester City forward was keen not to take a penalty at Wembley, knowing the severe pressure she and her teammates would be under.
Kelly added: "I did say to the goalkeeper coach at half-time of extra-time: 'I'm not fancying a penalty'. And he said to me: 'Well win it then'."
Ward, who won five senior caps for Wales between 2000 and 2004, is an experienced goalkeeper coach. He represented Sunderland in the Premier League and also played for the likes of Nottingham Forest, Norwich and Wolves before hanging up his gloves.
Kelly also revealed what she said to Lauren Hemp before she took the corner that resulted in a goal. She continued: "She went out to take the corner and I said to her: 'Make it count, let's make this count'. And everything after that is a blur - until I took my shirt off!"
Kelly will forever be remembered for her iconic celebration in the final, taking off her shirt and waving it over her head. On that moment, Kelly said: "Everything is a blur and you celebrate for what the moment is and not: 'Am I allowed to take my shirt off?'
"I'm taking my shirt off and going crazy because a male footballer would be doing exactly the same. As women, why can't we?"
