Ella Toone insists the England players have a fighting mentality and "know what it takes to win" as they prepare to face Spain in the Euro 2025 final.

England are through to their third consecutive major tournament, having won Euro 2022 with a 2-1 extra-time win over Germany before losing the 2023 World Cup final 1-0 to Spain.

The Lionesses are also looking to become the second nation to lift the trophy at consecutive tournaments, along with Germany (1989 and 1991, then 1995 – 2013).

England have had to dig deep to keep their title defence alive in the knockout stages. They scored two late goals to force Sweden to extra time before prevailing on penalties in the quarter-final.

In the next round, they then netted a 119th-minute winner over Italy, having scored an equaliser deep in second-half stoppage time.

Toone says England can be proud of the fight they have shown so far and does not expect it to be any different when they face off against Spain in Basel on Sunday.

"It's mad, I've not thought about that [reaching a third straight major final]. It's amazing to make three consecutive finals is something we can be so proud of; the whole country can be proud," she said.

"I'm really excited, I want to go out on the pitch and give everything for England and the team, hopefully we can put on a good performance.

"When we came into the tournament, we wanted to make the nation proud, and we have done that already. We know that no matter what we do, we're always inspiring the next generation of young boys and girls as they start their journey.

"No pressure from our side. We're just preparing as well as we can. We want to fight, we want to not stop running.

"You've seen that in games when you might feel like we're down and out, then someone comes on and we have one moment, and we take it. It's about having players with the belief they can come on and change the game.

"It's in us all individually that we are competitive and know what it takes to win."

England have seen a substitute score in each of their last three Euros matches, with Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones scoring against Wales, Michelle Agyemang against Sweden and then Agyemang and Chloe Kelly against Italy.

With five substitute goals overall, the only teams to score more at a single Euros tournament are Germany in 2009 (eight) and England themselves in 2022 (seven).

Nineteen-year-old Agyemang has netted in each of her last two outings at Euro 2025 and would be the youngest player to score in three appearances in a row at major tournaments (19 years, 174 days), breaking Vivianne Miedema's record (21y 22d).

Toone noted that England using their substitutes effectively is not a first, having also done so at Euro 2022, and credited the squad's attitude.

"It's nice [that players are 'super subs']! Nice for anyone to get on the pitch and make a positive impact," she said.

"In 2022, that was mine and Alessia's [Russo] job to come on and make an impact, and this time around, our role is different.

"We give 100% in whatever role is asked of us, but it's nice for us to do the hard work and the girls to come on and get the goal and see it over the edge. It's a squad game, and you need everyone.

"We've had positive impact off the bench, but the girls who have started the game have ran their socks off. We have a really good squad."

Sarina Wiegman, meanwhile, is taking charge of her fifth major tournament final in a row and has won each of the last two Euros (2017 with the Netherlands, 2022 with England).

Two managers have won the tournament three times – Gero Bisanz (1989, 1991, 1995) and Tina Theune (1997, 2001, 2005), with Wiegman looking to add her name to that list, though Toone admitted they have caused her some scares in this year's edition.

"I think we've almost killed her twice this tournament, she's said we have aged her!," Toone joked.

"Five consecutive finals for her, that's just unbelievable. We know we are in good hands.

"When we go out on the pitch, we fight for each other but also her, the staff and the fans watching."