The Lionesses, however, thought they had taken the lead inside 16 minutes at the Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, only for Alessia Russo’s goal to be disallowed for a marginal offside ruling on Beth Mead. It was a decision England’s head coach described as a “huge surprise” — so what exactly happened, and why didn’t the goal stand?

Georgia Stanway says England are determined to “put things right” in their second 2025 European Championship match against the Netherlands and move on from the France defeat, which she described as “like a bad night out”.

England's defence of their European title got off to a damaging start with a 2-1 defeat by France in their heavyweight group-stage match in Zurich. Widely considered England's toughest game of Group D, this was always going to be a test for Sarina Wiegman's side - and they were not up to the task.