As Wiegman's match-winner, Kelly used to be England's 7th choice for penalties

There is something within Chloe Kelly that makes her fearless; the perfect player for high- pressure moments.

The Euro 2022 final, the Finalissima and now the World Cup last-16 tie against Nigeria. Kelly scored the winner in all three matches.

In the Finalissima against Brazil and against Nigeria, Kelly took the fifth and final penalty in the shootouts. The second was a carbon copy of the first. With a hop, skip and a jump, she smashed the ball into the top-left corner.

At 69mph, her penalty on Monday was more powerful than any goal scored in the Premier League last season.

To strike the ball with such venom, when so much depended on whether it hit the net or not, sums up Kelly’s personality.

The Manchester City forward explained to Mail Sport: ‘When you get carried away with what pressure is going on and everything that’s happening, the noise on the outside, you kind of lose the moment.

‘Playing without fear, that’s when I’m at my best.’

Kelly’s journey started in the football cages of east London. She would go up against her older brothers and boys twice her size. ‘If I was on the floor, they would tell me to get up,’ Kelly said.

‘That’s why I was a little bit cheeky. You have to hold your own against the boys. You need to have a little personality to go in those cages and hold your own against players who probably didn’t respect you when you first walked in there. They definitely did when I left.’

Despite those bruising encounters, when Kelly turned professional she would get nervous before games. It was not until she ruptured her anterior cruciate knee ligament, an injury that caused her to miss the Olympic Games in 2021, that the fear vanished.

‘I don’t have those nerves as I did before because I’m thinking, “What’s the worst that can happen?”’ Kelly said during last summer’s Euros. ‘I’ve been through the worst of anything that has happened to me so far and I have to enjoy every moment, playing with no fear.’

After scoring the Euro 2022 final winner, her form dipped on her return to City. She had only come back from a knee injury two months before the tournament and was frustrated she was not immediately able to get back to her best. ‘The high (of the Euros) made me forget about my injury and it felt like I wasn’t injured,’ Kelly said. ‘I wasn’t playing my best football and that was the most difficult thing.’

Kelly worked extensively with City’s strength and conditioning coach, who said after Christmas she had recorded her best physical load and speed scores since joining.

By the end of the season Kelly had created 80 chances in the WSL, the most of any player and an all-time record for the division.

When the Finalissima — a match between the South American (Brazil) and the European champions — came around in April, Kelly was in the best form of her career. It felt inevitable she would take a penalty in the shootout but she very nearly didn’t.

Kelly had been put seventh on the list, behind defenders Leah Williamson and Lucy Bronze — until both players intervened.

‘You won’t know this story, but they showed us the order for the penalties and I was sixth and Chloe was seventh,’ Bronze said after the game. ‘And Leah was meant to be in the five and Leah was like, “Chloe needs to be in the five”. And I was like, “Yeah, she does!”

‘So they put her third and I said, “No, no, put Chloe fifth, she’s going to score the winner”.’

Kelly has not started either of England’s last two games, but with Lauren James suspended for Saturday’s quarter-final against Colombia, there is every chance manager Sarina Wiegman will turn back to her fearless, reliable match-winner.