
England star Lucy Bronze reveals why Arsenal's Champions League win is a major boost to Lionesses ahead of clash with world champions Spain
Arsenal 's historic Champions League triumph in Lisbon is more than just club success — it's a major boost for England ahead of this summer's Euros, according to Lionesses star Lucy Bronze.
The Gunners ended an 18-year wait for English dominance in Europe with a 1-0 win over Barcelona in the Women's Champions League final just over a week ago.
And crucially, the squad featured England regulars Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly and Beth Mead — with Mead assisting Stina Blackstenius for the winning goal.
Bronze, who has lifted the trophy five times herself — three with Lyon and twice with Barcelona — believes the impact of that win stretches far beyond club level.
'The more players that we have that are used to that winning feeling, the experience, going up against the best players in the world — because that's what you do in the Champions League as well — it's fantastic for England.
'It's something that I've always said, years and years ago, a long time when I first went to Lyon, that was what I wanted to do: test myself against the best players, win the Champions League, bring that experience to England.
'And you see as the years go on, and more and more players have done it, Alex (Scott), Nikita (Parris), Izzy Christiansen, Jodie Taylor, Keira (Walsh), and then now we've got all the Arsenal girls as well it's just fantastic for us as an England team and us as a country, to have so many more players who are doing great things and achieving great things.'
Meanwhile England head coach Sarina Wiegman has revealed she is 'close' to finalising her 23-player squad for the European Championship and gave fans a reason to smile with her injury news.
'Everyone is available and everyone can start,' said Wiegman, with a smile on her face.
This includes Ella Toone and Alessia Russo, who missed the 6-0 thumping of Portugal but are now back in full training.
Georgia Stanway also made her long-awaited return to action, featuring in the final 15 minutes after six months out.
Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood also logged minutes after a lengthy period away, leaving only Lauren James an ongoing fitness doubt.
'It is really good (Toone is back), but also for Alessia (Russo) that she's back.
'So we have decisions to make, and that's very nice.'
England face world champions Spain in their penultimate game before the Euros on Tuesday, and three days from Wiegman's squad announcement.
As to how many decisions she has left, Wiegman said: 'We are pretty close. Of course, I still want to go through to the game tomorrow and then make the final decisions, but we're pretty close.'
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'Some of these mutually agreed exits and cuts that are going to have to come following the spending review's reduction in administrative budgets are an opportunity for the Civil Service to get more match fit.' Like other experts, he believes the central Whitehall machinery, such as the Cabinet Office, needs to be overhauled. The Government is in the process of slimming it down, but Thomas says: 'There's definitely further to go to get a No 10 Cabinet Office machine that's really humming.' A quagmire of quangos, a big and unwieldy Civil Service and ministers still finding their feet give a flavour of Labour's teething issues. Even a tentative proposal to scrap the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and hand its responsibilities to bigger, better-resourced departments appears to have been judged too ambitious and quietly shelved. These challenges explain why Sir Keir, after less than a year in power, is voicing opinions similar to those of Cummings. 'It's not that the civil servants are anti-Labour or anti any other particular party. I think the challenge is that change is always more challenging,' says Clive Betts, the Labour MP for Sheffield South East. 'The other problem is, in this social media age... you go on your computer and immediately say, 'This needs to be done', and you assume that it can be done. I had emails within two weeks of the last election saying, 'Why haven't you done taxi licencing, why haven't you changed it?' 'We know what needs to be done. But the process of getting it changed, and the actual details of the change and how you write the new legislation will take some time. The public, I think, is less understanding of those challenges,' Betts says. With Britain facing an acute housing crisis, more than 6m people waiting for hospital treatment and Europe's highest industrial energy prices, there is much to do and little time. After only 11 months in charge, Labour is trailing Reform in the polls and Sir Keir's personal rating is in the doldrums. Mandelson's former adviser, Diamond, points out that Blair confessed to only finding his stride with the Whitehall machinery in his second term. Sir Keir may not have that luxury.