Topics: UEFA Women's Euro, England, Spain, Esther Gonzales
The hosts were put on the back foot in Wednesday night's quarter-final encounter.

Hosts of the 2022 UEFA Women's Euros were put on the brink of elimination after conceding their first-ever goal in this year's tournament. As anticipated, Wednesday night's clash with Spain proved to be another challenging affair, with La Roja putting them on the back foot by breaking the deadlock in the early minutes of the second half.

England had secured the match-up after progressing out of Group A as winners. They won all three of their group games, scoring 14 goals in the process. Relatively, Spain earned their quarter-final spot by accumulating six points from a possible nine, finishing behind Germany as Group B runners-up. Needless to say, the latter entered Wednesday's encounter as favorites, as they remained the only side the Lionesses had failed to beat or score against in their 17 games under Sarah Wiegman.

With the odds in their favor, Jorge Vilda's ladies gave their hosts a good run for their money by scoring in the early minutes of the second half. Having seen the first 45 minutes end in stalemates, it was Esther Gonzalez drew first blood for the visiting, firing the ball she received from Castillo into the far corner of the net.


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The Lionesses subsequently faced an uphill task to avoid elimination but were eventually successful in restoring parity. Substitute Ella Toone smashed the ball into the back of the net after Alessia Russo had done all the hard work to nod it into her path inside Spain's penalty area.