Italy leave it late against Norway
Italy 2 - 1 Norway
Italy left it very late to defeat Norway
Author | Sophie T
Stadium | Stade de Genève
Cristiana Girelli scored a dramatic 90th-minute winner to send Italy into the Euro 2025 semi-finals with a 2–1 victory over Norway, setting up the prospect of a meeting with defending champions England.
Girelli, the Italy captain, had earlier opened the scoring after a commanding first-half display, only for Ada Hegerberg to cancel it out after recovering from a missed penalty. But with extra time looming, the veteran striker met Sofia Cantore’s cross with a well-timed header to seal Italy’s place in the last four for the first time since 1997.
Their semi-final opponents will be confirmed on Thursday, when England take on Sweden in the last of the quarter-finals.
A closer look at what happened
Italy controlled proceedings in the opening period and were unfortunate not to be ahead at the break. Girelli, Arianna Caruso, Emma Severini and Lucia Di Guglielmo all had chances, but the breakthrough didn’t come until five minutes into the second half. Cantore’s delivery from the right was met by Girelli, who applied a simple finish from close range.
Italy appeared to have struck again minutes later when Severini bundled the ball over the line, only for the goal to be chalked off for an offside infringement against Caruso in the buildup.
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Norway were handed a lifeline just after the hour when Hegerberg was brought down by Elena Linari and awarded a penalty. But for the second time in the tournament, the Lyon striker failed to convert, dragging her shot wide of the post.
She responded in determined fashion soon after, collecting a pass and calmly finishing past the advancing Laura Giuliani to bring her side level with just over 20 minutes remaining.
The equaliser gave Norway a lift and they looked the more likely to find a winner, with Ingrid Engen coming closest when she bent a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area. But just as the game appeared to be drifting towards extra time, Girelli was once again in the right place to glance home Cantore’s cross and spark jubilant scenes among the Italian players and staff.
