On an evening of targets and drama for 2 veteran star strikers, Cristiani Girelli acquired the higher of Ada Hegerberg to ship Italy into the semifinals of the 2025 Girls’s Euro on Wednesday.
Girelli’s Ninetieth-minute header, finishing her brace, sealed a 2-1 win over Norway, whose captain Hegerberg had tied the sport after lacking a penalty.
The 35-year-old Girelli had seized the lead for Italy within the fiftieth by deftly guiding in a shot fired throughout the Norway aim by Sofia Cantore.
Italy will return to Geneva subsequent Tuesday to face both Sweden or England for its first Girls’s Euros semifinal since 1997.
With extra-time looming, Girelli met Cantore’s completely weighted cross with a swish leap on the far publish to direct her header just below the crossbar.
Hegerberg leveled the rating within the 66th along with her first scoring likelihood simply six minutes after lacking a penalty kick for the second time at Euro 2025. Hegerberg ran clear to a protracted move and poked a shot previous onrushing goalkeeper Laura Giuliani. The slow-rolling ball simply beat the Italian defenders in a race to the aim line.
Girelli now has 61 targets for Italy and the final three all went into the identical internet on the mountains finish of the Stade de Genève stadium. She additionally scored one of many targets of the event, curling in a 22-meter-yard shot in opposition to Portugal that formed to be decisive within the group stage till Italy conceded an 89th-minute equalizer.
It was Italy that completed sturdy within the first knockout spherical and no yet one more than Girelli.
The Norway star has taken two penalty kicks at Euro 2025 and missed each, inserting her two photographs extensive of every publish. She additionally scored in every of these video games.
Hegerberg received this spot-kick by falling below a grappling problem from Italy captain Elena Linari attempting to fulfill a excessive cross. Replays steered Hegerberg might need been offside. Taking a brief and sluggish run to the ball, Hegerberg despatched her shot extensive of the left hand publish of Guiliani, who guessed accurately which strategy to dive.
The previous Ballon d’Or winner additionally missed when Norway led 2-1 over Switzerland, capturing to the precise of Livia Peng’s dive, in a gap day win by that rating.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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