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Chloe Kelly quipped she was grateful to her critics after her penalty shoot-out heroics for England in the Euro 2025 final.
Kelly endured a difficult start to the 2024-25 season, as she found herself out in the cold under Gareth Taylor at Manchester City.
She managed to start just once in the Women’s Super League and featured for only 165 minutes in the first half of the campaign.
Kelly joined Arsenal on loan midway through the season, going on to score two goals and providing three assists in eight WSL appearances, while she also played a key role in the Gunners’ Champions League triumph.
And she once again proved one of England’s star performers as the Lionesses retained their Euros crown.
Kelly, who scored England’s winner in the final of Euro 2022, came on from the bench to set up Alessia Russo’s equaliser against Spain on Sunday, and then lashed in the winning spot-kick in the shoot-out.
4 – @Lionesses have won all four of their penalty shootouts under Sarina Wiegman, with Chloe Kelly netting the winning spot kick in three of those. Trustworthy. pic.twitter.com/aYMtR7VFyF
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 27, 2025
“There were a lot of tears at full-time, especially when I saw my family, because those are the people who got me through those dark moments,” Kelly told reporters.
“I’m so grateful to be out the back end, if that’s a story to tell someone who is experiencing something similar
“Tough times don’t last and just around the corner was a Champions League final – won that. And now a Euros final – won that.
“Thank you to everyone who wrote me off, I’m grateful.”
England are the second team to retain the Euros, after Germany (1989, 1991, and six in a row between 1995 and 2013).
Boss Sarina Wiegman, meanwhile, has won the Euros in three successive editions. She has joined Gero Bisanz (1989, 1991, 1995) and Tina Theune (1997, 2001, 2005) in winning the title on three occasions.
And Kelly explained how crucial Wiegman’s support of her was during her difficult times.
“She’s amazing,” Kelly said of Wiegman.
“She’s an incredible woman, what she’s done for this country, we should all be grateful for. What she’s done for me individually. She gave me an opportunity to represent my country again. I knew I had to get game time and representing England is never a given.
“What she’s done for the women’s game, she’s done it in the Netherlands and England, the whole women’s game, she’s taken it to a whole other level.”