Express & Star

Deflated England star Lucy Bronze vows to carry on fighting

Defender Lucy Bronze, alongside Alex Greenwood, was one of just two Lionesses to have lived through the heartbreaks of 2015 and 2019 and after the loss admitted she was “just deflated”.

Published
England's Lucy Bronze

The defender, who plays with nine of the Spain squad at Barcelona, added: “Obviously we went into the World Cup wanting to win it and we were so close, but in the end we couldn’t quite get it over the line.

“I think we showed that, against adversity, we showed up.

“We were determined and resilient throughout the tournament–- even before the tournament with missing a lot of players through injury and having a couple of different things happen throughout the tournament.

“We showed resilience to carry on and keep going and fighting.

“I think I am proud of what the girls have achieved, what we have achieved, but I think everybody that knows me knows that I only like gold medals.”

Kirby, Williamson and Mead could all return to tournament football should a Team GB qualify for next summer’s Paris Olympics through UEFA’s new Nations League, which begins in September.

At 31, Bronze is one of the older members of Wiegman’s squad, but when asked if she would need to take some time to think about going for another trophy immediately, retorted: “I am not retiring from England if that is what you mean.

“Olympics is always the goal, even if we would have won this tournament. The Nations League was the goal, the Olympics is the goal.

“That’s a different team to this England team.

“The goal is always to win tournaments with this team.

“We have shown that we can do that.

“We have made a final today as well. “There is no reason why the team can’t go and create more legacies and more winning legacies.”