Spanish press slam Chloe Kelly for ‘cocky gesture’ after Euro 2025 win

Kelly scored the winning penalty in Sunday’s final 

After scoring a last-gasp winner in the semi-final tie against Italy last week, Kelly came off the bench to resurrect England’s position in Sunday’s final. 

She entered the pitch with the Lionesses 1-0 down and assisted Alessia Russso's equaliser, before scoring a dramatic winning penalty in the shootout. 

Despite those heroics, Kelly has surprisingly come under criticism from the Spanish media. 

Spanish outlet Diario AS, posted a video of Kelly celebrating her moment of triumph alongside a criticism of the nature of the 27-year-old’s actions. 

It reads: “This is unnecessary, my friend: Kelly’s cocky gesture to Cata Coll after scoring the decisive penalty." [Translated from Spanish] 

They also accused Kelly of deliberately changing the direction of her penalty follow-through, so as to celebrate in front of Spain’s goalkeeper Cata Coll. 

The post continues: “The England specialist changed her run during her penalty celebration to get past the goalkeeper she had just beaten.”

Diario AS’ criticisms of England continued in their match report of the game. 

The report reads: “History is made by victories, and also by defeats. Spain fell in the Euro Cup final but left its name sealed in gold. 

“England robbed them of their dream; the world champions couldn’t close the circle they began to write two years ago in Sydney. [The 2023 World Cup final] 

“They couldn’t have been crueler in the penalty shootout, tossing a few dice in the air.” 

The claim that Spain were the deserving winners was echoed after the full-time whistle by Spain’s captain on the night, Irene Paredes. 

Paredes told RTVE: “We tried everything, all the different ways, and then the penalties didn’t go our way. I thought we deserved it more but in the end it is not about who deserves it.

“It is about having that bit of luck and England had that throughout the whole tournament. We thought we could overcome that but we weren’t able to.

“I think we had more control of the game than they did, we created more clear chances, we had more possession… But yeah, nothing else.”

The claim that England were unlucky was also addressed by England captain Leah Williamson, who spoke to the BBC at the end of Sunday’s final. 

She said: “We have ridden our luck, but I don’t think we were lucky.” 

Regardless of luck, the Lionesses became the first England side to ever defend a major trophy, putting to bed the disappointment of losing to Spain in the 2023 World Cup final. 

After a hard-fought 120 minutes of play, the sides could not be separated and the game went to penalties.

24-year-old keeper Hannah Hampton — who was playing at her first major international tournament — saved a penalty from Ballon D’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, setting up Chloe Kelly to seal the win.