Lionesses left with mountain to climb after defeat in Euro 2025 opening match

Out of the roof of Stadion Letzigrund, the Uetliberg mountain could just be seen rearing its head from behind the high-rise flats and extraterrestrial-looking floodlights.

At the full-time whistle, it provided an ominous reminder of the task defending champions England had just set themselves with an uninspired 2-1 defeat to France.

With the Netherlands next up, the Lionesses have added yet another mountain to their alpine surroundings and it is one they must scale if they are to have any chance of taking their title defence into the knockout stages.

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Slow starts have so often been the calling-card of Sarina Wiegman’s tournament sides, but openers against Austria and Haiti in the last two have provided welcome relief from their tendency to stutter out of the blocks.

In Zurich, where a fast start was more imperative than ever in face of an opposition who would not be so forgiving, England appeared to have bucked the trend.

Early indications suggested a gamble to start Lauren James would pay dividends, the Chelsea forward finding an opportunity to shoot inside the first minute, before sending another brilliant cross in from the right just moments later.

And it was her impetus that seems to have provided the holders with an opener after just 16 minutes.

James surged in from the left wing to find Beth Mead on the edge of the box, a pass out to Lauren Hemp saw yet another shot for England and this time Alessia Russo was in position to fire the rebound home.

But VAR would prove England’s undoing as, unlike the hulk of the mountain’s behind them, it was the precision of millimetres of Mead’s shirt sleeve, invisible to the naked eye, that saw the opener wiped out for offside and with it the Lionesses momentum.

As the untouched natural beauty of Uetliberg watched on, the intervention of meticulous technology stole the joy of the England fans and with it the momentum of the players before them.

Where composure and energy had reigned in the opening exchanges, England found themselves sapped of both and soon looked overrun by a French side abundant in pace.

With Elisa De Almeida and Delphine Cascarino combining down the right and Selma Bacha and Sandy Baltimore providing an equally threatening force down the left, the Lionesses suddenly looked out of their depth.

And it was from those two avenues that Les Bleues found a quickfire double that put the game out of sight for England, with a hike up the mountains behind looking more achievable.

Cascarino latched onto De Almeida’s pass in behind to fire a cross that Marie-Antoinette Katoto could turn home with relative ease in the 36th minute, before Baltimore benefitted from an out of position Lucy Bronze to blast home from a tight angle three minutes later.

From there, the Lionesses never looked like leaving base camp. Even a half-time team talk could not reset their ambitions as a stray pass from Mead nearly set Grace Geyoro through for a third 10 minutes after the restart if it was not for Hannah Hampton’s scrambling save.

It took the introduction of 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang and a sublime strike from range by Keira Walsh to rejuvenate the Lionesses’ efforts.

And despite Bacha’s intervention on the line marking the difference between a point and none for the holders, the ascent back from 2-0 down always looked like a climb too far.

Now, the summit feels further away than ever as the Lionesses stare at what appears to be the toughest draw in the toughest group.

A meeting with the Netherlands, buoyed from a 3-0 win against Wales, awaits and Wiegman needs to pick a route with firmer footing for this climb as she cannot allow the Lionesses to fall any further.