England Women star Ellen White reflects on ‘unreal’ performance as side thrash Norway 8-0

The Lionesses boss watched her team soar into the quarter-finals of the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament, after a brilliant Beth Mead hat-trick at the Amex Stadium.

Mead’s treble helped fire the hosts to the largest margin of victory in the tournament’s history as Ellen White, Georgia Stanway, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo also netted in Brighton.

And Wiegman, who steered her native Netherlands to Euro 2017 glory five years ago, said: “It was very special. We didn’t expect to get such a big win as we did but we played really well, we really exploited their weaknesses.

“What’s going on here is what was going through my mind. Norway didn’t have answers on our game, they didn’t get press on us.

“And we played really well and created and scored chances and it was very enjoyable to watch. Games can go really strange. We’ve seen so many games be 3-0 and it goes 3-3 and it changes but when it became 4 and 5 nil, I thought, yeah, we’re not going to give that away.

“Games develop and I think Norway didn’t play their best game today and we played very well. This was really good and we’re really happy with the performance because we showed how good we are. We have to do better and better every game I think.”

England’s night started strongly from the first whistle, as Norway’s Maria Thorisdottir’s rash play in the box brought down White in front of the referee for a soft penalty.

And it only got better from there as chance after chance was thrown the Lionesses way and they pulled ahead to 6-0 by half time.

White said: “I don’t even know how to describe it, you could probably see on our faces in that first half, it was just unreal.

“The noise, the atmosphere, scoring six goals it was incredible. And then moving into the second half, scoring another two goals and a clean sheet, it’s just crazy.

“Obviously it’s a big statement 8-0. But for us we’re staying cool and collected, we want to keep moving and keep growing as a team.

“We’re focused on our own task but we’re delighted to come through with a clean sweep.”

The Lionesses played with the Norwegian side, bustling around the box and trying to fire shot after shot.

Mead sealed her first hat-trick in a major tournament in the 81st minute with a simple finish and cemented her place at the top of the golden boot race.

On Mead’s incredible form and position in the squad, White added: “She’s unbelievable. I’m so proud of her and she’s English so we’re very happy.

“Amazing night and I’m super proud of this whole squad and hopefully everyone who’s watching is proud of this England team as well.

“We’re so thankful for that support and hopefully we can continue to grow as a team and continue to make everyone really proud of us.”

Tickets are on sale now for fans to experience a history-making tournament that aims to unite football and communities and amplify the growth of the women’s game. www.uefa.com/womenseuro/ticketing