Lionesses star makes heartbreaking admission and will be forced to miss celebrations

Jess Carter was delighted she could be her normal relaxed self as she laughed and joked with England manager Sarina Wiegman after the Euro 2025 final - but the defender will miss out on Tuesday's parade.

It has been a difficult few weeks for defender Carter, who bravely spoke up on being subjected to racial abuse during the tournament. But she was all smiles after starring in the final as the Lionesses beat Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

“That is normally me,” Carter said. “Throughout this tournament I've not felt that and I've been really quite sad and disappointed at the fact that I've not been the relaxed Jess I know.

“I'm someone that is what will be will be. We go out there, give our all, and either it'll be enough or it won't.

“That's not how I've played this tournament until I got to this final where I thought ‘I'm going to give it my all. If we lose, we lose and if we win great’. In extra time Sarina was giving me a lot of information and we realised she just said a lot of words, and it was cool, like, we got this, and she's been great.”

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Carter dropped out of the starting XI for the semi-final, with Esme Morgan earning a first tournament start after impressing from the bench in the quarters. However, the Gotham FC star returned against Spain and put in some important defensive challenges as England retained their Euros title.

Carter did not fly back to the UK with the rest of the England squad on Monday and instead headed back to the States, meaning she missed the reception at Downing Street and will be absent from Tuesday's parade in London. The Lionesses said on their X account: "Safe travels Jess! The Lionesses defender has headed back to the States ahead of Gotham FC's fixture this weekend."

When asked how Wiegman broke the news of her recall, Carter said: “We went into training and she just sat me down and said, I'm thinking of starting you on Sunday. I said: ‘OK, thanks. After I was thinking in my head, ‘are you sure?’

“I can't shout loud enough for Esme. She's been an incredible team player, she was incredible when she came on the pitch. Every role she's been given, she was outstanding.

“So to have that faith from Sarina to put me back in the squad and that she believed that I could help this team to a trophy was amazing. “It gave me a lot of confidence going into this game.”

Wiegman made defensive switches earlier in the tournament as well, moving Carter from left-back to centre-back after the group stage defeat against France, and said her selection decisions have been based on the opposition. “Well, first of all, it says something about the team that we can make tactical decisions,” the manager said.

“I’ve said a couple of times now that I was really happy, before the tournament, with my squad, and that we had players in the same position that can bring different things, and that was, in this case, true with Esme and Jess. Italy was a different game than Spain and we felt we needed Jess now in the starting line-up [for] the fight and the duels, she can play, and she showed of course that she is a great personality.

“She was ready to perform, also against Italy, but that was a tactical decision and now we’ve made a tactical decision [against Spain]. I had all the belief in her and she had the belief in herself, that’s the most important thing, that she could contribute to the team and you can tell that the team trusted her too.”

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