A pitch invader wearing a 'Free Ukraine' T-shirt interrupted England Women's World Cup final with Spain.
The match was briefly delayed in the 24th minute as stewards rushed to tackle the person to the ground and escort them off of the pitch. While the game was able to resume soon after, it briefly caused quite the stir at Stadium Australia as the Lionesses look to win the World Cup for the very first time.
The intruder is thought to have been protesting against Russian president Vladimir Putin, donning a t-shirt that showed a picture of Putin alongside the message: "Stop Putler," comparing the Russian politician to Adolf Hitler. On the back of the black t-shirt sat the Ukraine flag as well as another message that read: "Free Ukraine."
BBC's commentary team did address the incident, which television cameras did pick up, as commentator Robyn Cowan remarked that the incident had been "dealt with swiftly." ITV took a more light-hearted approach and sarcastically quipped that the pitch invasion certified the fixture's status as a big game.
At the time of the pitch invasion, the scoreline was still 0-0. However, just five minutes later Spain took the lead as Olga Carmona fired a well-sruck effort beyond the despairing dive of Mary Earps and into England's bottom corner.
The Lionesses have come close on a few occasions, with Lauren Hemp rattling the crossbar, but Spain have undeniably been the more dominant of the two teams and can consider themselves unfortunate to go into the half-time break only one goal to the good.
There remains plenty of time for Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses to turn the tide on the game, but England will now have to come from behind if they want to get their hands on the World Cup.
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Show your support for The Lionesses throughout the FIFA Women's World Cup with the latest England home shirt. Mixing the classic with the contemporary, this shirt is being worn by the team as they bid to add a World Cup to their incredible European Championship triumph in 2022.
One of England's star players, Lauren James, started on the bench in what is the first game she is eligble for after her red card in the round-of-16 victory over Nigeria. James can consider herself fortunate that her team-mates spared her blushes that day, she may now have to come off the bench and return the favour against Spain.
What will concern Wiegman most is the way England are being dominated in possession. At the half-time stage, Spain had completed more than double the amount of passes as the Lionesses, dominating the midfield and isolating Keira Walsh in the process.
England goalkeeper Earps has been called into action and done well to keep the score at just 1-0, pulling off some fine stops. The frame of the goal has also come to the rescue of Weigman's side - a significant improvement is required in the second-half.
