Keira Walsh putting friendships to one side as England seek Spain revenge

Keira Walsh experienced England’s 2023 World Cup final defeat slightly differently to her team-mates when she returned to play club football alongside some of the Spain stars who broke the Lionesses’ hearts in Australia. Walsh was on Barcelona's books at the time of the final, and club colleagues including Mariona Caldentey and Irene Paredes had become rivals for those 90 minutes in Sydney.

The England midfielder left Catalonia for Chelsea in January but still counts those Barca stars as close friends after they helped her settle in an unfamiliar environment after her world record transfer in 2022.

“Moving to a different country sometimes is difficult,” Walsh said. “You're on your own, I was used to living 20 minutes away from my family, I had always lived in Manchester so at times it was difficult.

“That's why I have so many good friends on the Spanish team. They have always looked after me. Irene Paredes always invited me round for dinner with her family. When I wasn't feeling great I was with Mariona.

“All those girls really spent time to take care of me and look after me. I have a lot to say thank you for. Obviously on Sunday we're rivals and I want to win.”

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Walsh says she anticipated questions about the opposition from her England colleagues after Spain booked their place in the final, but pointed out that the rivalry has been growing of late - with the teams trading Nations League victories earlier in the year. On top of all that, it’s not the first time members of the England squad have gone up against familiar faces during Euro 2025.

Right-back Lucy Bronze spoke about her friendship with Chelsea colleague Johanna Rytting Kaneryd before England beat Rytting Kaneryd’s Sweden on penalties, while the group stage victory over the Netherlands allowed Beth Mead to get the better of her partner Vivianne Miedema on the pitch.

Spain and England have taken rather different paths to the final. While the Lionesses have only led for two minutes during the knockout stages, Spain haven’t trailed since the group stages - and even then, they only found themselves behind for four minutes against Italy.

The challenge now will be maintaining that resilience in a game where Spain are likely to have the lion’s share of possession, and that’s a big deal for ball-playing midfielder Walsh “That’s probably one thing I’d take from the previous times playing against Spain, I think maybe we haven’t been as confident as we could on the ball,” she said.

“That’s also one of our strengths, we’ve got unbelievable players on the ball so we need to take more pride in that and keep the ball for longer periods. We’re going to get chances so it’s just about taking those and being confident.

She added: “It's not about panicking and getting frustrated, we just have to be comfortable defending. When we get the ball we have to look after it.

“The English mentality has been going through all of our games and I don't think that's going to change in the final. If anything, we're going to be more proud to be representing our country."

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