England vs Norway LIVE: Euro 2022 result and reaction as Beth Mead nets hat-trick in record goal haul

England kicked off their Women’s European Championship adventure in Manchester against Austria last Wednesday with former international goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis believing home advantage could play a crucial role in their campaign.

Sarina Wiegman’s team will be hoping to go the distance and earn Wembley glory over the coming weeks.

And with over half a million tickets already sold for the tournament, they are set to play in packed stadiums the length of the country, which Brown-Finnis believes will be a new challenge for some players at Euro 2022.

Sarina Wiegman has responded to Martin Sjogren’s talk about putting pressure on England by saying that Norway would see victory tonight as equally important to boost their chances of topping the group.

"We know what we want. We want to play our best game and we want to entertain," said Wiegman.

"You’re talking about someone who has said something about us [but] has not been with us. That’s OK. It’s nice they are trying to put pressure on us.

"We’re just working on our game and how we want to play. I don’t think about being the hosts, I think about the game."

Northern Ireland were outclassed on their major tournament debut as Norway romped to a comprehensive 4-1 Euro 2022 victory in Southampton.

First-half finishes from Julie Blakstad and Frida Maanum, plus a Caroline Graham Hansen penalty, put the two-time European champions on course for a routine success to dampen an historic occasion for their opponents.

Defender Julie Nelson – Northern Ireland’s most-capped female player – gave the competition’s lowest-ranked nation brief hope of an unlikely comeback by heading in a landmark goal just after the interval.

But Guro Reiten’s free-kick sealed a routine success for Martin Sjogren’s side to move them level on three points with hosts England at the top of Group A.

The last time England hosted the Women’s European Championship, only one part of England really saw any of it, writes Northern Football Correspondent Mark Critchley.

The eight-team tournament in 2005 was played entirely within the confines of the North West, stretching as far north as Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road but no further south than the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington. Germany ran out 3-1 winners against Norway at Ewood Park in front of a crowd of 21,105. England finished bottom of their group, by the way.

Seventeen years later, the next three-and-a-half weeks promise to demonstrate how much has changed since. It all begins in the North West once again – England host Austria at Old Trafford in tonight’s curtain-raiser – and although there is strangely no North East representation, the 10 venues stretch from Leigh down to Brighton, and the tournament will culminate in a Wembley final that has already sold all 87,200 tickets. More than 500,000 have been sold across all of the games.

That is not only a record but double the total sold for the last Euros in the Netherlands five years ago. The worldwide broadcast audience for the 2017 tournament hit 178 million but that too is set to be comfortably surpassed. Whereas Channel 4’s live coverage largely focused on the fate of the home nations then, every match will be available to watch across the BBC’s platforms now. This will be the biggest Euros yet, demonstrating the rapid pace of the game’s progress. And so, it is perhaps only right to stop and take a breath.

This is the first ever meeting between England and Norway in the Women’s European Championships finals. England have won five of their last eight matches against Norway in all competitions (one draw, two defeats) although they lost their most recent meeting in a friendly in September 2019.

Before this run, the Lionesses had lost 11 of their first 12 games (one draw) against Norway between 1981 and 2002.

The stage is set for tonight’s Euro 2022 clash.

England are under “massive pressure” to deliver at their home European Championship but have a genuine chance of glory, according to Norway boss Martin Sjogren.

Sjogren’s side warmed up for a tantalising Euro 2022 showdown with the Lionesses by easing to a 4-1 win over tournament debutants Northern Ireland on Thursday in Southampton.

The Swede expects a “totally different” challenge in Norway’s second Group A match as he seeks to burst the bubble of Sarina Wiegman’s hosts following the joy of their 1-0 win over Austria in front of a record-breaking attendance of 68,871 at Old Trafford.

Norway boss Martin Sjogren has suggested that nerves played a big part in England’s underwhelming performance Austria despite the Lionesses winning the match 1-0.

He also said his team were "definitely underdogs" as England are ranked three places higher and are one of the favourites to win the whole tournament.

"England is one of the big favourites for the tournament. I think England feels quite a lot of pressure from being at home, being one of the favourites," he said.

"They’ve had very good performances, especially in the preparations before the Euros. England need to be the favourites in this game going into it."

Norway are currently top of Group A on goal difference with both teams winning their opening matches and England boss Sarina Wiegman has brushed off suggestions that the Lionesses were under more pressure as tournament hosts. Speaking to the press on Sunday she said:

"Tomorrow is just a game. We want to win and they want to,

"If they want to be the underdog, that’s fine. I think they have a very strong squad and we do too. I expect an open match so let’s see where it goes. Obviously I hope we win it."

Hosts England have a formidable attack and one of the players to have frequently shone within it is Manchester City winger Lauren Hemp.

The 21-year-old, who was part of Great Britain’s side at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, heads into her first major tournament with the Lionesses after a season in which she broke her duck for the team – in her 14th cap – when notching four times against Latvia last November, and registered 21 goals and 10 assists for City.

She was named PFA young player of the year for a third successive season and fourth time in total.

Barcelona were beaten 3-1 in this year’s Champions League final by Lyon, with Ada Hegerberg, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner, key to the French side’s victory.

The 26-year-old forward scored one goal, extending her record tally in the competition to 59, and teed up another as she continued her comeback from injury that began in October after more than 18 months out.

Now her attention turns to the Euros, having returned to the Norway squad in March five years on from stepping away from the team, unhappy with the way women’s football was being run in the country.

The Norwegians are in the same group as England and defeated Northern Ireland 4-1 in their opening fixture.