Toone says England knows how to win ahead of final
Ella Toone insists the England players have a fighting mentality and know what it takes to win as they prepare to face Spain in the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 final.
It will be England's third consecutive major tournament final, having won UEFA Euro 2022 with a 2-1 extra-time win over Germany before losing the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup final 1-0 to Spain.
The Lionesses are also looking to become the second nation to lift the trophy at consecutive tournaments, along with Germany (1989 and 1991, then 1995 and 2013).
England had to dig deep to keep its title defence alive in the knockout stages. It scored two late goals to force Sweden to extra-time before prevailing on penalties in the quarter-final.
In the semi-final, it netted a 119th-minute winner over Italy, having scored an equaliser deep into second-half stoppage-time.
Toone says England can be proud of the fight it has shown so far and does not expect it to be any different when it faces off against Spain in Basel on Monday (AEST).
"It's mad, I've not thought about that [reaching a third straight major final]. It's amazing to make three consecutive finals is something we can be so proud of; the whole country can be proud," she said.
"I'm really excited, I want to go out on the pitch and give everything for England and the team, hopefully we can put on a good performance.
"When we came into the tournament, we wanted to make the nation proud, and we have done that already. We know that no matter what we do, we're always inspiring the next generation of young boys and girls as they start their journey.
"No pressure from our side. We're just preparing as well as we can. We want to fight, we want to not stop running.
"You've seen that in games when you might feel like we're down and out, then someone comes on and we have one moment, and we take it. It's about having players with the belief they can come on and change the game.
"It's in us all individually that we are competitive and know what it takes to win."
England has seen a substitute score in each of its past three matches, with Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones scoring against Wales, Michelle Agyemang against Sweden and then Agyemang and Chloe Kelly against Italy.
With five substitute goals overall, the only teams to score more at a single UEFA Women's Euro tournament are Germany in 2009 (eight) and England itself in 2022 (seven).
Nineteen-year-old Agyemang has netted in each of her past two outings and would be the youngest player to score in three appearances in a row at major tournaments at 19 years, 174 days, breaking Vivianne Miedema's record of 21 years, 22 days.
Toone noted that England using its substitutes effectively is not a first, having also done so at UEFA Women's Euro 2022, and credited the squad's attitude.
"It's nice [that players are 'super subs'! Nice for anyone to get on the pitch and make a positive impact," she said.
"In 2022, that was mine and Alessia's [Russo] job to come on and make an impact, and this time around, our role is different.
"We give 100 per cent in whatever role is asked of us, but it's nice for us to do the hard work and the girls to come on and get the goal and see it over the edge. It's a squad game, and you need everyone.
"We've had positive impact off the bench, but the girls who have started the game have ran their socks off. We have a really good squad."
England coach Sarina Wiegman, meanwhile, is taking charge of her fifth major tournament final in a row and has won each of the past two European championships with Netherlands in 2017 and England in 2022.
Two managers have won the tournament three times – Gero Bisanz (1989, 1991, 1995) and Tina Theune (1997, 2001, 2005), with Wiegman looking to add her name to that list, but Toone admitted England has caused her some scares in this year's edition.
"I think we've almost killed her twice this tournament, she's said we have aged her!," Toone joked.
"Five consecutive finals for her, that's just unbelievable. We know we are in good hands.
"When we go out on the pitch, we fight for each other but also her, the staff and the fans watching."
