Lionesses’ instantly iconic backheel goal can be catalyst for so much more

Chelsea’s Sam Kerr called it “lit”. Conservative MP Tracey Crouch called it “pure filth” (in a good way). If you’re looking for a standout moment in a breakthrough tournament, Alessia Russo’s backheeled nutmeg goal – the third for England against Sweden on Tuesday night – is not a bad place to start.

Russo, the Lionesses’ supersub, has scored four goals in the women’s European Championship to date. This was of a different order, a fierce shot saved by the Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl had seen the ball apparently squared off by two defenders only for the 23-year-old to slam her heel through it, sending it through two sets of legs and into the net.

Edited with added hip-hop commentary – “I take the ball, shoot, I miss it … sike, I swished it!” – Russo’s impudent strike has been viewed 900,000 times on BBC Sport’s TikTok account. On Twitter, the figure is over 2m. Meanwhile, in more traditional media settings, the BBC report a figure of 9.3m viewers watching the game on BBC One (that goes up by another 2m when you add online streams). This contrasts with a peak audience of 980,000 viewers watching England play India at Twenty20 cricket on BBC Two last weekend.

Russo herself described the goal as being the upshot of a decision to find “the quickest route for me to get this ball in the back of the net”. The Manchester United player, who now has 172,000 Instagram followers, confirmed she doesn’t often score goals in such an unconventional manner and that “I don’t think you’ll see one again”. It was certainly significant, however. “To score in a semi-final and progress to the final is a huge highlight of my career,” she said.

The England squad returned from Sheffield to their base in south-west London on Wednesday with news