The China Mail - England's Carter tipped to perform in Euro 2025 semi despite 'disgusting' abuse

"We have had conversations and although it is a hard situation, Jess is a very strong person," Wiegman told reporters in Geneva ahead of Tuesday's last-four clash.

"She also felt, and so did we, that we had to address this, we couldn't just let it go.

"So we did, and then we know there is a match going on and we want to perform -- we are ready to perform, she is ready to perform and to compete and that says a lot about her and about the team."

Carter, 27, has started all of the reigning European champions' matches so far at the tournament in Switzerland, including the dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Sweden in the quarter-finals.

On Sunday, the English Football Association revealed it had alerted UK police as soon as it was made aware of the abuse.

Carter, who plays club football in the United States, said she would take a step back from social media to focus on the tournament.

"It is really sad that we have to be occupied with this," added Wiegman.

"It is ridiculous and disgusting that this is happening and it goes beyond football, so we had to pay attention to that and support Jess."

Midfielder Georgia Stanway, meanwhile, insisted that what had happened had brought the team together as they target winning through to a third consecutive major tournament final.

"If anything it has probably brought us together as a team," said the Bayern Munich player.

"There are some things that we will never be able to understand. We need to cut it out of society and we need to cut it out of football," she added, while saying that the squad had chosen to stop taking a knee to highlight racism because it had become "a little repetitive".

"We felt it had come to a point that it wasn't doing what we wanted it to do. Hopefully that will bring about more change and get people talking."

England came back from the brink against Sweden in Zurich, scoring twice late on to force extra time before triumphing in a remarkable penalty shoot-out.

If they win against 13th-ranked Italy, they will advance to Sunday's final against either Germany -- the team they defeated in the 2022 final at Wembley -- or Spain, who beat them in the 2023 World Cup final in Sydney.

"It would be really disrespectful to Italy to think we are the favourites. They made the semi-finals just like we did and that is really impressive for any team, so complacency is just the biggest mistake you could make," Wiegman said.

"We have seen how they play so I don't think there is anything that could make you think we might be the favourites. We will have to be at our very best to win the game."

Wiegman also hinted that all her players were fit and available for the match, meaning captain Leah Williamson should feature despite being forced off with an ankle injury against Sweden.

B.Chan--ThChM