How Kelly’s happiness saved England’s Euros

When late substitute Chloe Kelly saved England’s Euros defence in 103 seconds against Sweden on Thursday night, it proved two things.

Firstly, how good the 27-year-old is on the pitch. And secondly, how important her happiness is off the field.

Those who only follow the Lionesses at major tournaments may be unaware of how close the woman who scored the winner in the Euro 2022 final was to not being cast in the sequel three years later. In the first England squad of 2025, Kelly was not selected amid a crisis at club level.

Her return is the perfect example of how when a player is happy off the field, they thrive on it.

Kelly fell out of favour at former club Manchester City under ex-manager Gareth Taylor. She secured a loan to childhood team Arsenal, having posted emotional messages to social media saying she “wanted to be happy again” and accusing City of planting negative stories about her in the media.

She was eventually selected for the February squad when Beth Mead dropped out, and 13 appearances for Arsenal in the back half of the campaign – including starting the Gunners’ Champions League final triumph over Barcelona – was enough to earn her place at Euro 2025. She has since joined Arsenal on a permanent deal.

If Wiegman had not brought Kelly back England would now be out of the Euros, after she made the difference against Sweden.

As Karen Bardsley said in 5 Live’s quarter-final commentary: “England have to keep going and keep getting the ball to Chloe Kelly.”

Team-mate Esme Morgan was effusive in her praise following Kelly’s decisive performance.

“She’s been training amazingly in the last few days,” Morgan, Kelly’s former Man City club-mate, told BBC Sport. “So she was high on confidence coming into that game.

Kelly has spoken about Arsenal putting a “smile back on my face”, and that – perhaps as much as her obvious talent – is so important to her as a player.

She is close to her family, as the youngest of seven siblings with five older brothers who gave her a tough football education in the five-a-side cages of London.

Her husband Scott Moore is also a huge presence, as demonstrated by the instantly iconic shin pads Kelly wore against Sweden that featured a picture of the couple kissing on their 2024 wedding day on one, and their pet dogs on the other.

As BBC One commentator Robyn Cowen quipped on Thursday night in Zurich: “This game has completely changed since Chloe and her husband came on to the pitch.”

The happiness and support which drives Kelly also comes from the England squad, in particular the band of ‘super subs’ who have played an essential role for the Lionesses ever since Wiegman took charge.

Wiegman is infamous for being stubborn in her starting XI selection – the same side started all seven matches at Euro 2022, and there has only been one alteration across four matches in 2025.

Kelly has made 10 sub appearances in Women’s Euros matches, the joint most in the history of the competition. She has not yet started a game at Euro 2025 and has played only 126 minutes total – but in that time, has created six chances and provided six successful crosses.

Those include England’s two goals versus Sweden. She came off the bench in the 76th minute, and the goals arrived on minutes 78 and 80. Four minutes, two goals – saved Euros.

And of course, it was off the bench from where she scored the most important goal in Lionesses history – extra time at Wembley against Germany, poked home from close range, shirt whirling above her head in celebration..

Kelly is one of England’s “finishers” alongside regular subs like Beth Mead, Aggie Beever-Jones and Michelle Agyemang. She told a news conference at Euro 2025 that they have formed a “positive clique”, with their own finger clicking celebration.

She says Maya le Tissier – who has not played a single minute in Switzerland – came up with the idea.

“We work really hard on the training pitch, in the gym, making sure we’re prepared when we go on to the pitch and we have a great group of girls, so it’s about enjoying the whole experience as a group,” Kelly said.

“We’re good people that support each other every day. We support each other very well as a 23, that’s what it takes to win a tournament. In football sometimes cliques are negative, but this is a positive clique.”

“No matter how bad England were in that first half, you always know England have got goalscorers in that side,” former Lionesses keeper Siobhan Chamberlain told 5 Live. “You know if they get their moment, England can get back into the game.”

All that positivity gave Kelly the confidence to turn the quarter-final around, right down to her penalty in that bizarre shootout. As all around lost their heads, she kept hers with a trademark hop, skip and a jump in her run-up to score.

Kelly might not start for England, but she is Mrs Reliable in shootouts. She scored the winning penalty versus Nigeria at the 2023 World Cup and Brazil in the Finalissima.

She is happy, unbothered, and empowered to save her country, and more importantly her team-mates, whenever they need her.

“I didn’t feel under pressure, I just wanted to create some goals for the girls and do my best,” she told BBC Sport after the Sweden win.