‘It would be really disrespectful’ – No complacency from England against Italy says Wiegman

England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that her side won’t be complacent when they face Italy in a UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 semi-final on Tuesday evening.

The Lionesses are favourites to qualify for the final, although they come up against an Italian side that have only been beaten by world champions Spain so far.

There is an expectancy that England will get the job done but head coach Wiegman is taking nothing for granted against the Italians.

“It would be really disrespectful to Italy to think that we are the favourites,” Wiegman said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “They made the semi-finals just like we did and that’s very impressive for any team to reach that stage.

“Complacency is the biggest mistake that you could make. We’ve seen how they’ve played. We might be the favourites but we will have to play our very best to win the game.”

England captain Leah Williamson sustained an injury in the Lionesses’ quarter-final victory over Sweden. Wiegman says that the player’s swift recovery shows how desparate she is to play in the semi-final.

She said “It says that she really wants to play and that she did everything to recover as well as possible. She has [done that] so that she could be training today. When she recovers well, she’s available tomorrow.”

Victory over Italy would see Wiegman reach her third consecutive UEFA Women’s EURO final. The Dutchwoman says that she wouldn’t reflect on such an achievement at this point in her coaching career.

She said “I don’t [think about it]. I’m in the job now, I’m working with the team and all that keeps me busy is the game tomorrow. We want to win and we are doing our full preparations, that’s what keeps us busy.

“Maybe in 10-15 years, I’ll think about that [potential achievement].”

England’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 semi-final tie against Italy kicks-off at 8pm on Tuesday evening.