From penalty taker to physio: Lucy Bronze is England’s Swiss army knife

Lucy Bronze pinned up a picture of herself after the 2019 Women’s World Cup bronze-medal match against Sweden, which England lost 2-1, for her teammates to see on a wall in the team hotel where players and staff share inspirational images. She was, in her words, “absolutely exhausted” in it, hairband round her neck, shirt crumpled, hair awry, the physical, emotional and mental pain of the preceding 90 minutes visible.

That photo represents so much to Bronze, England’s stalwart right-back who no one has come close to replacing and likely never will. “I will give anything and I will give everything when I play in an England shirt,” she says of that image of her at her most broken. ”I wanted all the girls to know that that’s my why. My why is to give everything for this team because I just love playing for England so much.”

On Thursday night, at the Stadion Letzigrund that Bronze had spent the afternoon replicating in Lego with Michelle Agyemang, the veteran defender encapsulated her why, delivering for the Lionesses when it mattered most. Bronze was left with an array of new photos to choose from: standing arms wide in the first half, pleading for a diagonal ball that could unlock a path into Sweden’s half on the right; powering in her header from the substitute Chloe Kelly’s cross from the left to halve the two-goal deficit, then kicking an advertising hoarding in a show of emotion; taking tape out of the team doctor’s bag to tightly strap her own thigh deep into extra time before ripping the remains of the tape away; and dispatching England’s final spot-kick in the tensest and most chaotic of shootouts at a speed of 102.51 km/h.

“I just felt a little bit tight at the end of the game and I thought: ‘I just need to get through to make sure I can keep going,’” Bronze said of the self-treatment.

“But then I thought: ‘It’s going to hinder me in a penalty.’ I didn’t expect it to go to the sixth penalty, so I didn’t take it off and then it was my penalty and I thought: ‘I need to take this off, I’m going to smack it.’”

View image in fullscreen Lucy Bronze’s collision with the advertising board after scoring for England against Sweden. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images

Beth Mead said: “Lucy was chaotic. A lot going on. With her taping her leg up she became a physio, [then] she became a striker and nailed the best penalty of the day. She did it all. Lucy really showed her experience in those moments. She’s our most experienced England player and she was one of the players that very much got that determination out of us all today.”

Bronze’s message to Hannah Hampton before she stepped up to take her spot-kick was concise. “I literally said to Hannah: ‘I’ll score this, you save the next one: game over,’” Bronze told Sky Sports, ice strapped to her right thigh, some kind of recovery device attached to a calf, as she marshalled Agyemang through the mixed zone, prompting her follow goalscorer to speak, coaching her through this high-interest new world after the 19-year-old’s phenomenal introduction to the senior side. It is not the first time Bronze has done this: it was the 33-year-old who virtually grabbed Lauren James by the scruff of the neck after the forward’s player-of-the-match performance in the 2023 Arnold Clark Cup and told her she had to speak to the press, doing the interview alongside her, encouraging her.

It was also Bronze who stepped forward after the humbling 2-1 loss to France in England’s opening game of these Euros and rallied the side. She leaned into her Lionesses history to help the squad over the psychological hurdle of, in effect, being straight into knockout football by sharing that, after a loss to France in the opening game of the 2015 World Cup, the team went on to come third, their best finish in that competition up to then.

One member of Football Association staff described Bronze after the 3-2 win over Sweden on penalties as the best player they had worked with. In the press conference, Sarina Wiegman, usually so dispassionate in the face of questions about individual players, preferring to not highlight them over the team, let her love for coaching Bronze out, adrenaline still flowing.

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View image in fullscreen Lucy Bronze straps her own thigh during extra time against Sweden. Photograph: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

“Lucy Bronze is just one of a kind,” the head coach said. “I have never, ever seen this before in my life. I’m a very lucky person that I’ve worked with so many incredible people and incredible football players, and there are so, so many, but what she does, her mentality, and how she took that penalty and the goal … She gets it in the net, but that’s not what defines her. What defines her is that resilience, that fight. I think the only way to get her off the pitch is in a wheelchair.”

Turning 34 in October, Bronze is edging nearer to her career’s close, but she is fighting the end, forcing it further and further into the future with each exhilarating performance. But it is not just the performances that matter. Bronze’s experience and influence are significant and vital as the next generation comes through. England need her, not only at right-back, but everywhere and in every way.

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