I'm ok with the Lionesses losing – here's why

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

It’s a little over a year ago that I was sitting in a packed, bewilderingly sun-drenched Piccadilly Gardens, getting ready to leap up at the final whistle of the nail-biting UEFA Women’s Euro final.

Ella Toone’s stunning sprint to the first goal, Chloe Kelly’s 110th-minute miracle score, Gill Scott’s infamous barb which the entire English-speaking world could lip read, the sunglasses and hats-shaded pictures of the team nursing more than a couple of hangovers the next day.

Diamonds are made under immense pressure, and that electric summer’s eve became a core memory of the year for me as the England women’s football team claimed their European champions status. Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features In the days that followed, I was compelled to watch and re-watch the highlights, feeling the same swell of pride I had at the way the Lionesses’ came together that night.

Headlines were, naturally, filled with all the different ways this win would inspire a generation of women and girls in every kind of interest and field, I counted myself among them.