The moment certainly overwhelmed several players during one of the most disorganized penalty shoot-outs in any competition; however, that should not overshadow the preceding events.

Women's football has faced criticism in the past, but there has been a consistent year-on-year improvement in both quality and entertainment value.

This was clearly demonstrated in Thursday night's encounter which extended into nearly midnight local time.

This marked Sarina Wiegman's 16th match in charge at the Women's Euros, the highest for any manager, with Italy waiting in the semi-finals, England's path to the final was already outlined.

The youngest average starting XI for England since 2009 (27 years 170 days) certainly did not anticipate such a poor start to the match.

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Kosovare Asllani, marking her 38th appearance in a major tournament, the fifth most among European players, placed Sweden ahead after merely one minute and 44 seconds of play, recording the fastest goal ever conceded by England in any European Championship.

Stina Blackstenius provided the assist and nearly scored herself just minutes later with her 18th shot of the tournament, the highest of any player.

At that moment, things looked dire for the Lionesses, as they had only won one of their last seven Women's Euro matches in which they fell behind first (D1 L5), while Sweden remained unbeaten in their last 17 matches when scoring first (W15 D2).

Following some careless play by England nearing the halfway mark of the first half, Blackstenius extended Sweden's lead.

A long way back for the Lionesses

To emphasize the challenge England faced in mounting a comeback, they had only avoided defeat once at the Euros when trailing by 2+ goals, and that was back in 2009 when they defeated Russia 3-2 in the group stage.

Sweden had triumphed in all 12 of their matches at the tournament when leading by 2+ goals, and no team in the competition's history had recovered to win a knockout match after trailing by 2+ goals.

The glimmer of hope Wiegman might have been seeking did appear after Sweden's second goal, as the Lionesses held 68.3% possession during the final 15 minutes of the first half.

This increased to 72.2% during the opening 15 minutes of the second half, during which Georgia Stanway, Lauren James and Lauren Hemp took shots that challenged the Swedish defense.

Still, England pressed forward, but another three shots failed to find the mark. It wasn't for lack of effort, as their 21 attempted crosses in the match by that stage exceeded their average of 20.3 in the tournament. By the end, this number had surged to an astonishing 40 attempted crosses.

Kelly transformed the game

The substitution of Chloe Kelly for Hemp with 13 minutes remaining changed everything. Just one minute and three seconds after entering, she delivered a brilliant long-range assist for Lucy Bronze to spark hope for an improbable comeback.

Less than two minutes later, Kelly's skill allowed her to find Beth Mead in the box, and her layoff was eagerly finished by fellow substitute, Michelle Agyemang.

No significant actions followed, leading the match into extra time, where excitement reignited as both teams pushed hard to avoid the uncertainty of a penalty shoot-out.

England had won three of their four previous European Championship knockout matches that went to extra time, though their sole defeat came against the Swedes.

Lucy Bronze sets the gold standard for England

Undoubtedly, the Lionesses depended on the experience and tenacity of Bronze, the full-back making seven clearances—the highest from an England perspective—and three interceptions at one end, while also making four touches in the opponent's box.

Her 20 one-on-one duels throughout the match surpassed all opponents except for Sweden's Julia Zigiotti Olme, who had 26, and her 12 recoveries of possession were the most by any player in a game at the tournament.

Despite a late surge of clear chances, Sweden failed to capitalize and may feel disappointed that they could not prevent the match from going to penalties.

When reflecting on Blackstenius successfully completing four of her five dribbles, achieving 12 touches in the England box, which included four shots with three on target, as well as collectively having seven shots on target, losing the game will be particularly hard to accept.

Wiegman acknowledges the match was her most chaotic

Moreover, players like Johanna Rytting Kaneryd orchestrated operations, leading by example with 21 total duels attempted, four dribbles attempted, and an 81.3% pass accuracy, the highest of any Swedish player with over 10 touches.

The penalties were a disaster for both teams, and even Sarina Wiegman conceded in the post-match press conference that the game was the most chaotic she had ever participated in.

However, the fact remains that England maintained more possession throughout the 120 minutes (59.8% to 40.2%), completed more passes (536 to 365), achieved a significantly better passing accuracy (74.3% to 58.6%), and also took more shots (18 to 14).

Italy looms large in the semi-final

In fact, in nearly every statistic except for shots on target and duel win percentage, the Lionesses held the advantage.

If they wish to defend their title, however, they will need to deliver a much more comprehensive performance against Italy on Tuesday.