England head coach Sarina Wiegman admitted she did not expect her side to be so dominant as they beat Norway 8-0 to set a new European Championship record.
The Lionesses qualified for the quarter-finals in style and set a new record win for a men’s or women’s Euros at the Amex Stadium in Brighton.
A contentious Georgia Stanway penalty, won by Ellen White, set England on their way to victory but there was no doubting the hosts’ dominance thereafter, as a Beth Mead hat-trick, White’s double and further goals by Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo earned a famous win.
"It was a very special night, we didn’t expect to make such a big win as we did," Wiegman told the BBC.
"But we did really well, we really exploited their weaknesses. We’re really happy. But at the same time it’s just one game. We know we’re through now the group stage. We just enjoy the moment, but we really stay grounded and focus on the next game."
England led 6-0 at half-time against a Norway side who were tipped as dark horses to win the tournament by some commentators and boast celebrated players in Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen.
Asked what was going through her mind during the first half, Wiegman said: "What’s going on here, that was going through my mind!
"We played well, Norway didn’t have the answers on our game. They didn’t get to press us. We played really well, created chances, scored chances. It was very enjoyable to watch.
"Games can go really strange. We’ve seen so many games when it’s 3-0 and goes to 3-3, but when it went to 4-0 and 5-0 I thought they’re not going to recover from this.
"Norway didn’t have the best game today. We’re really happy with the performance. We showed how good we are. When we go through [from the group stage] we’ll get tested at a higher level. We need to do better every game.
"We really showed our qualities. The fans have been really nice again, almost 30,000 of them. We just need to enjoy that moment, relax a little bit then start preparing for the next game."
