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England and Brazil needed penalties to determine the first-ever winners of the inaugural women's edition of the Finalissima on Thursday with Lionesses winning on penalty kicks. The European champions and Copa America title holders met at Wembley and played to a 1-1 scoreline in regulation and went straight to penalties to decide the winners. Chloe Kelly delivered the match-winning penalty for the hosts to earn them yet another trophy. 

The competition, a quadrennial one-off match initially founded in 1985 between CONMEBOL and UEFA for men's national teams, was announced in 2022 as part of a renewed partnership between the two federations. Both England and Brazil are ranked No. 4 and No. 9 respectively, they are reigning champions of their home continents and have expectations to lift a World Cup this summer at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The first men's edition since 1993 was played last year as Argentina defeated Italy, 3-0. 

England, now 30 matches unbeaten, got on the scoreboard in the opening 20 minutes of this match with a brilliant team goal that was built along the right side. Multiple players touched the ball, but Lauren James connected with Lucy Bronze and the outside back provided the assist to Ella Toone for the finish. 

Have a look at the opening goal:

The Wembley Stadium crowd of 83,132 provided an iconic environment, but the Lionesses' missed chances came back to haunt them as the match went on. The narrow scoreline wasn't enough and Andressa leveled the game for Brazil during stoppage time. 

Finalissima kicked into high drama as the match headed straight to penalty kicks after regulation. Nervy moments from both teams led to missed and saved penalties till Kelly stood at the spot inside the box. Take a look at the game-winning moment by Kelly for England.

What's next

Brazil head coach Pia Sundehag and her team will feel disappointed by the result, but it's a strong game to build on into the World Cup. The group will stay in Europe and face Germany on Tuesday. England will host once more when they welcome 2023 World Cup co-hosts Australia on Tuesday at Gtech Community Stadium in Brentford, West London.