Alessia Russo reveals honest ‘standards’ conversation Lionesses squad had following much-needed Euro 2025 qualification victory over France

Georgia Stanway’s wonderful strike broke the deadlock for England midway through the first half and Russo doubled that lead before the break with a smart header. France did get back into things when the visitors conceded a needless penalty late on but Hannah Hampton’s heroic late save ensured a 2-1 win.

Speaking to ITV after the game, Russo said: “We just spoke as a team then, we know that our standards have to be higher. We’ve probably let them slip a little bit in these past few qualifiers but we know the talent we have, we know the potential that we have as a group and we saw a lot more flashes of it tonight.

“I think we got our standards back to where we wanted them. There were still parts that we’ll work on, for sure, but that’s a performance that we want to keep going forward [with] now. We know the level is higher than ever and we know that to do anything at the Euros, to even qualify, is going to be harder than ever. We’re proud. We’ll have a little bit of a rest and then we’re back in July for another massive camp.”

Though England remain third in their qualifying group after this win, they are in a much better position now. France top the table with nine points, Sweden are in second with seven and the Lionesses are only behind them on goal difference.

Sarina Wiegman’s side will conclude this stage of the qualifying campaign next month, hosting Ireland on July 12 and visiting Sweden four days later. If they finish in one of the top two spots in the group, they will qualify for Euro 2025 automatically. If they finish third, with Ireland confirmed to finish fourth now, they can still reach the tournament but only via the play-offs.