Georgia Stanway has revealed how Declan Rice and other England stars have been giving the Lionesses support and advice for their Euros campaign.
The Lionesses are now just 90 minutes away from reaching the Euros final at Wembley and potentially doing what their male counterparts could not achieve last summer.
Rice and his England team mates suffered heartbreak when they lost to Italy on penalties after coming so close to winning a home tournament. But now the Lionesses have a chance to go one better - and become national heroes.
England hero Stanway hit the stunning extra time winner to book the Lionesses’ place in the semi final next Tuesday as they look to make history. Stanway said it feels like they are a “united nation” because Gareth Southgate’s men have offered their support and also advice on how to deal with the pressure as the momentum grows.
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Ex-Manchester City star Stanway, who has just joined Bayern Munich, said: “We got a few messages from the men as well, just supporting us, willing us all the way, saying they're coming to the next match. We're definitely a united nation.
“We've had just certain messages off Declan Rice, just the lads that were involved last year. They're giving us tips on momentum, taking it forward and just the support really.
“It feels pretty surreal. We want as many people on our journey as we can and we want as many people watching us, supporting us, believing in us. I feel like we showcased that against Spain and that's what we're capable of.”
But Stanway insisted that the pressure, expectation levels and also being the focus of so much attention will not be a burden. Instead, they are determined to embrace the support.
Stanway said: “You kind of just forget about it. We're in our little zone of focussing on what we do. You get snippets of what's going on outside and the support.
“We see it in the stadiums when everybody is up on their feet, everybody is getting involved when we're on attack, in defence, everybody is cheering us on and that's just all part of it.”
Stanway’s stunning goal - a rasping 20 yard drive - had to be the moment of the tournament so far and it completed a brilliant England comeback and victory against Spain. It sparked wild celebrations but also increased the belief in the squad and Stanway could hardly believe it afterwards.
She added: “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 celebrations at the end showed how much it meant to us and the fans were unbelievable.
“But it's just a step at a time. We've always gone to a major tournament and thought we want the prize whereas there's a stage, a step to do it. We're just happy to have taken the next step and will enjoy these next six days, putting the work on the grass to focus on the semis.
“I just thought the Spain game was a massive, massive team performance. Substitutions were unbelievable, coming on doing a massive job for us. We’ll just focus on the semis now.”
