The Lionesses had once again been on the brink of elimination as they trailed to Barbara Bonansea’s first-half strike for Italy.
But after their remarkable comeback from two goals down to beat Sweden on penalties in last week’s quarter-final, they pulled off more heroics in Geneva.
Michelle Agyemang came off the bench and forced the extra period by equalising six minutes into stoppage time, and fellow substitute Kelly completed the turnaround by following in to score the winner in the 119th minute after her penalty had been saved.
Sarina Wiegman’s team are through to their third consecutive major tournament final and the 2022 European champions head to Basel for Sunday’s showpiece.
That will be either a repeat of the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, which they lost to Spain, or a repeat of the last Euro final, in which they defeated Germany at Wembley — those sides meet in the other semi on Wednesday.
“Luckily I got there for the tap-in,” Kelly said. “Three finals on the bounce and we want more. This team shows resilience but we fight back and hopefully we can make it easier for ourselves.”
It has been quite a ride for England, with this victory following their comeback against Sweden, while the nature of the defeat for Italy was cruel.
Many of their players were in tears at full time, as the Azzurre – who are ranked 13th in the world and were not expected to come this far – fell short of reaching a first final since the 1997 Euros.
“It hurts but we are very proud of all that we have done,” said Italy coach Andrea Soncin. “We will need a few days to overcome this bitter moment but we will keep growing.” (AFP)