Scotland Women 0-6 England Women: Lionesses miss out on Nations League finals as Team GB Olympic hopes over

England agonisingly missed out on the Nations League finals despite a 6-0 win against Scotland, ending Team GB’s hopes of going to the Olympics.

It was a dramatic end to a thrilling Nations League campaign and the Lionesses could not have done any more. Sarina Wiegman had asked her players to ‘go wild’ with goals and they answered her call.

It was a strange paradox of a big win in one of their biggest rivalries while also missing out on not one, but two competitive tournaments.

Heading into the 90th minute, England were going through to the finals on goals scored, 5-0 ahead in Scotland while the Netherlands were 2-0 ahead against Belgium.

But just as the Netherlands scored a third to reclaim top spot in Group A1, Lucy Bronze slotted home England’s sixth to see the Lionesses back into first.

But as the full-time whistle blew at Hampden Park, there were worried faces as they kept playing in Tilburg. Then Damaris Egurrola made it 4-0 to see the Netherlands into the finals at England – and Team GB’s – expense.

How England beat Scotland – but missed out on the finals

England had a job to do and inside 12 minutes, they were in front. It was a gift of a goal too as Alex Greenwood was allowed a free header from Beth Mead’s corner, nodding the ball too easily past the outstretched arms of Lee Gibson.

Scotland’s best chance of the half came when Mary Earps was forced into a diving save as Rachel McLauchlan fired towards the near post. On the half-hour mark, Lauren Hemp lashed an effort onto the post from two yards out.

But soon, the England floodgates opened and it was sparked by the superb Lauren James. Her first came as she picked up a cleared ball at the top of the area, with her strike taking a huge deflection off Nicola Docherty on the way through.

The second was a sensational strike. James was fed by Chelsea team-mate Niamh Charles, before curling a stunning strike home.

But perhaps the moment of the half was a first England goal for Mead on her first start since September 2022. James turned provider, finding her team-mate at the near post as Mead turned home as the Lionesses celebrated properly for the first time in the game.

It took just four minutes for England to add their fifth after the break. It was some more lax defending from Scotland as Fran Kirby was left unmarked inside the area to find Georgia Stanway’s pass before sidefooting past Gibson.

Both sides continued to trade blows as the half wore on. Gibson made brilliant stops to keep out Hemp, Mead and a Greenwood free-kick as Kirby hit the crossbar in a melee inside the area. At the other end, Earps needed to be alert as Kirsty Hanson latched onto a poor backpass, but the goalkeeper did enough to keep her from scoring.

The England captain was again called into action late on. Martha Thomas’ header was expertly pushed away by Earps, ricocheting off Bronze’s legs and onto the post before being cleared as the Lionesses made life difficult for themselves.

But as news filtered through of the Netherlands’ third goal, England made sure they did all they could to reach the Nations League finals. Ella Toone’s delivery was nodded home by an ecstatic Bronze – but there were anxious faces at full-time as they waited for the game to finish in Tilburg.

Despite all their efforts, it ended up not being enough for the Lionesses to sneak through, with the Netherlands joining Spain, France and Germany in February’s finals.