France 1-2 England: Lionesses exact revenge on Les Blues as Georgia Stanway and Alessia Russo strike boost Euro 2025 qualification hopes

The Lionesses beat Group A3 leaders France 2-1 in AS Saint-Étienne to boost theiir hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2024.

With only two teams progressing automatically from this four-team group, it was crucial England picked up a positive result in Saint-Etienne. 

France’s victory over the Lionesses at St James’ Park five days earlier had left Sarina Wiegman’s side in third place coming into last night’s game. Sweden’s narrow win against the Republic of Ireland earlier in the day had also added an extra level of pressure.

Wiegman had been questioned over whether her tactics and team selection had become too predictable after last week’s defeat at St James’ Park. 

The England manager had insisted they did not need to alter their style of play and stuck to her guns by naming the same 10 outfield players that started the first fixture with Les Blues, with Hannah Hampton replacing an injured Mary Earps in goal.

France, who had been fairly defensive in the first fixture, made two changes and also switched to a more attack-minded formation. While it saw England put under more pressure in their own box than they had been last week, it meant there were gaps they could exploit at the other end of the pitch. 

Alessia Russo should perhaps have put England ahead when she connected with Beth Mead’s cross, but could only fire wide from close range. The Lionesses were on top, but the final pass and finish was evading them. That was until a thunderbolt from the edge of the box provided the spark they had been lacking. Lauren Hemp found space on the left and teed up Stanway, who arrowed an unstoppable shot past Pauline Peyraud-Magnin. 

France were in disarray and just past the hour mark England doubled their lead. Russo had missed two good chances earlier in the half but redeemed herself when she flicked Hemp’s inch-perfect cross into the bottom left corner.