England’s European champion Chloe Kelly has revealed she planned her goal celebration ahead of time after beating Germany 2-1 in the final.
“I was ready to take the jersey off and go crazy,” Kelly told itv’s Good Morning Britain. “In men’s football they would do exactly the same thing, why shouldn’t I as a woman be able to do that? I think every England player and England fan felt the same at that moment.”
“The best yellow card I’ve ever received”
Her celebration in a sports bra was one of the scenes from the English perspective of the final at Wembley Stadium and subsequently featured on the front pages of many British newspapers. However, the 24-year-old hesitated briefly before she took off her jersey. “I looked at the referee and thought: what’s she going to decide now, free kick or goal? Because of the video evidence and so you think, you don’t want to celebrate too soon, you have to be sure,” said Kelly. “I grabbed my shirt and thought: am I going to take it off or what?”
After a brief consultation with her assistants, referee Kateryna Monzul gave the goal in the 110th minute – and Kelly let her joy run wild. She didn’t care that she received a yellow card for her celebration. “It’s the best yellow card I’ve ever received,” said the Manchester City striker. “I think at that moment everything is a haze and you just celebrate the moment, you don’t think about whether you can take your shirt off. Because as you know, I took off my shirt and I went nuts.”