England’s Hannah Hampton reveals she threw away Spain goalkeeper’s penalty notes in Women’s EURO final

England beat Spain 3-1 via penalties to retain its Women’s European Championship and Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton rose to the occasion with key saves in the shootout.

Hampton kept Aitana Bonmati and Mariona Caldentey’s penalties out before Chloe Kelly struck the decisive blow, once again in the EURO, to help the Three Lionesses clinch back-to-back European crowns.

Speaking about the final, almost two weeks after that night at the St. Jakob Park in Basel, Hampton revealed that she had thrown Spain goalkeeper Cata Coll’s bottle, which had penalty shootout instructions stuck on it, into the stands.

“The Spanish keeper had it on her bottle,” Hampton told TalkSport. “So I thought when she was going in goal, I’ll just pick it up and throw it into the English fans so she can’t have it.”

The 24-year-old ‘keeper, who has a serious eye condition which impacts depth perception, had notes on the opposition penalty takers on a piece of paper stuck to her arm. “I never put it on a bottle because anyone can do that, so that is why I put it on my arm, and the TV caught that. It wasn’t hard – when she has gone in the goal it [the bottle] is on its own, isn’t it? It is in a towel, you just pick it up.”

“Mine is blank, but it has the same sponsors and stuff so I just put mine in there, chucked her one into the fans and she had an empty bottle. She was looking for where it is. She was walking back and I was walking the other way. She was so confused. I was trying so hard not to burst out laughing. I was like ‘Oh, I don’t know where it has gone’ but you have got to do something haven’t you?” she added.

The shot-stopper played every game in the Lionesses’ run to defend its title. Her most prominent moment came in the quarterfinal against Sweden, where she was in goal for a remarkable penalty shootout and conceded just two of the seven penalties.