England’s goalkeeper Hannah Hampton has revealed how she threw the water bottle of Spain’s Cata Coll into the stands – ditching its tactical notes – as the Lionesses went on to complete a penalty shootout win in the European Championship final.
Hampton had England’s insider information written on a piece of paper taped to her left arm and she made stops from Mariona Caldentey and Aitana Bonmatí before Chloe Kelly scored the decisive kick as the Lionesses retained the trophy.
The 24-year-old admitted she took the opportunity to try to negate any impact Spain’s penalty research might have. Coll still saved efforts from Beth Mead – after a retake – and Leah Williamson during the shootout, which England won 3-1.
“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 Chelsea player added: “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 [because] I was like: ‘Oh, I don’t know where it has gone’ … but you have got to do something haven’t you?”
England also came through a dramatic penalty shootout win over Sweden en route to Euros glory, in which both sides failed to convert spot-kicks at crucial moments. Hampton described that shootout as “traumatic” and “horrendous”.
She said: “Before the games we as a keeper group have meetings and we analyse every penalty that each individual from the opposing team has had. I think Alexia [Putellas] had 46 penalties we had to sit there and watch.
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“You will watch it and pick out little things they do, whether they go one side or the other or have little subtleties in their run-up or even their arm position. Then pressure penalties, where they tend to put them, you see all of that and then you see their run-up and adapt in the moment to it.”
