Sweden spoil England's party as Arsenal star Alessia Russo repeats special feat at Wembley

The script was almost too perfect: Alessia Russo once again Sweden's tormentor as England embarked on their pursuit of more European glory.

It was nearly two years ago that the Arsenal forward wrote her name into the annals of football history with a stunning back-heel against Peter Gerhardsson's side to help propel the Lionesses into the European Championship final.

The audacious effort put Sarina Wiegman's side on the precipice of sporting immortality and earned Russo a place on the shortlist for the prestigious Puskás Award. And for a while at Wembley on Friday night, it seemed as if her 24th-minute header would be enough to sink the Swedes once more, thereby setting England on the way to an important victory to kickstart their EURO 2025 qualifying campaign.

Unfortunately for Russo and her teammates, Sweden had other ideas, with Barcelona forward Fridolina Rolfo restoring parity for the visitors in the second half. England were forced to settle for a point on an evening that may well come to be regarded as a missed opportunity should they fail to automatically seal their spot at next summer's tournament finals in Switzerland.

The moment the draw was made for these qualifiers, talk quickly turned to that memorable clash at Bramall Lane back in the summer of 2022. Russo's stunner was one of four stellar goals scored on that balmy July night as the Lionesses emphatically booked their place in the last two.

But Wiegman insisted this week that her team were looking forwards, not back, and were expecting a very different kind of game against the Swedes this time around. «That was then,» the Dutchwoman said when asked about that semi-final win. «It was a great moment but we move on. Lots of things have happened between that