Lionesses Diary - Day 25: Final training sessions complete as Euro 2025 final approaches

With just one sleep to go until the culmination of Euro 2025 at St. Jakob Park, both the Lionesses and Spain will be heading to Basel to settle into their new surroundings.

England carried out their final training session before travelling, and their final one in Switzerland, at Sportanlage Au while Spain will train at the stadium later in the day.

Here is everything you need to know from day 25 at Euro 2025…

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Today in camp

Sarina Wiegman led a final training session in Zurich today as the players ran through final tweaks ahead of Sunday’s final showdown.

After 25 days of tournament football, the Lionesses will also be checking out of their five-star accommodation at the Dolder Grand as they make the hour-long trip northwest to Basel.

They will play at 5pm UK time for just the second time this tournament, having beaten the Netherlands 4-0 in Zurich last time they competed at that time.

It means preparations will shift earlier in the day for the Lionesses as they travel to Basel tonight.

After the training session on Saturday morning, there will be a final tactics session before the rest is left down to how the players implement it on the field come Sunday.

Team news

Uncertainty over the fitness of Lauren James remains although further hope was provided to Lionesses fans as the Chelsea forward participated in training this morning.

Of the 15 minutes that press were granted access to, James looked tentative but not out of place with the rest of the team, who also appeared to be taking it easy with the final just a day away.

Trending topics

All the attention has been on new England starlet Michelle Agyemang, who has been launched into the spotlight by her stellar intervention in Switzerland.

Twice the scorer of crucial equalisers in the knockout stages, Agyemang has announced herself to the nation in style and now boasts three goals in four international appearances at 19 years old.

Alex Greenwood believes she is fully deserving of her flowers for the impact she has had on the Lionesses’ route to the final.

“Michelle’s so humble and she’s had two moments where this has happened. Those moments don’t happen often,” she told That Lionesses Podcast.

“She’s so young I have no doubt she’s going to have such an incredible career and score so many goals for England.

“But the journey we have been on in this tournament and the timing of the goal and how important the goal was, she got us back in the game and ultimately it was a difference maker."

Having played a similar role to Agyemang in 2022, Ella Toone is all too aware of the impact it will have on her reputation and how likely people are to recognise her.

“She might get papped eating a pasty like I did,” she quipped.

Quote of the day

“Sometimes when people say about ‘the girls’ and I think, ‘Are they meaning my daughters, or are they meaning my team?’.

“So that’s tricky, I’m a caring person so I care about them but at the same time I’m the coach, I’m making these hard decisions at the moment so sometimes you should leave that caring and leave it up to them. They’re grown-up women!” - Sarina Wiegman on being a mum to the England team

What are the pundits saying?

While admitting that Spain-England was the final everyone expected before Euro 2025 kicked off, Emma Hayes believes they have been lucky en route to the showpiece occasion.

Having scraped past Sweden and Italy in the knockout stages, the Lionesses have relied on a degree of luck to book their ticket to Basel for a third consecutive major tournament final.

But should England do the bidding and ride their luck against Spain on Sunday, Hayes believes it would be a bigger achievement than their Euro 2022 win against Germany.

“This is a harder final than the one against Germany at Wembley,” the USWNT coach said.

“England should be the favourites purely because they are the holders and have had the experience of winning it.

“Their belief that they can always get back into a game, no matter how indifferent they’ve been, is the one thing that stands out about England.

“Sometimes it pays to be lucky rather than good, but we shouldn’t dismiss that or talk it down. Their resilience is their superpower.

“England are scraping over the line and that may take them all the way, but this is their biggest test yet. Although Italy were good, they’re not at Spain’s level.”

Best of the rest

Spain have opted to complete their final training session before the final in an open training at St. Jakob Park in Basel.

They will be able to play on the grass and get a feel for the ground before they enter the stadium for the real thing just 24 hours later.

It is a different approach to England, who stayed at their base in Zurich for their final training session and will hit the pitch for the first time in their warm-up before kick-off.

La Roja will hope such an approach gives them the advantage in a game of small margins as they aim to win their first-ever European Championship crown.

But it could be a decision informed more by logistics than design as the Spanish side travel the 200km trip from Lausanne, while the Lionesses have a far shorter hop over from Zurich.