Spain goalkeeper fires back at England Lioness star who threw her penalty notes away

Spain goalkeeper Cata Coll has fired back at Hannah Hampton's claim that she threw her penalty notes into the stands. Hampton was the hero for England as they prevailed on spot-kicks to win the Euros last month. She saved two penalties from Spain duo Mariona Caldentey and Aitana Bonmati, while Salma Paralluelo missed.

Alex Greenwood, Niamh Charles and Chloe Kelly all scored for England as they retained the trophy they won at Wembley three years ago. After the match, Hampton confessed to using the dark arts in an attempt to throw Coll off her game. She claimed that she threw her rival's water bottle, which contained notes on the England players, into the crowd before the shoot-out.

Coll, however, has accused Hampton of making things up. On X (formerly Twitter), she reposted a video of the interview alongside the caption: "Okay, okay, calm down, calm down. At least if it were true..."

Hampton made the claims during an interview on talkSPORT, saying: "The Spanish keeper had it [the penalty notes] on her bottle, so I thought when she was going in goal, I'd just pick it up and chuck it into the English fans so she can't have it.

"I don't ever put it on a bottle because anyone can do that, so I put it on my arm. It wasn't hard. When she's gone in the goal, it's on its own isn't it? It's in the towel."

Coll was visibly confused after returning to her towel and finding a replacement water bottle, which Hampton had put there. The new bottle did not contain any notes and the Spain goalkeeper frantically searched for her original one, without any luck.

"Mine is blank, but it has the same sponsors and stuff so I just put mine in there, chucked her one into the fans and she had an empty bottle," added Hampton.

"She was looking for where it was. She was walking back to take the penalty and I was walking the other way and she was so confused. I was just trying not to burst out laughing, being like: 'I don't know what's happening'."

Hampton was recently nominated for the Women's Ballon d'Or alongside several of her England team-mates. Kelly, Alessia Russo, Lucy Bronze and Leah Williamson have also been shortlisted for the prestigious award.

In the event Hampton wins the grand prize, she will become the first goalkeeper to do so in the history of the Women's Ballon d'Or. Mary Earps, who she replaced as England's first choice, was ranked fifth on the overall list in 2023.

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