'People assume you're not trying' - James on England criticism

England forward Lauren James says fans were "too quick to judge" during her struggles at Euro 2025.

In an interview with BBC Sport, the 23-year-old said injury problems and criticism during the tournament affected how much she was able to enjoy the Lionesses' historic triumph in Switzerland.

And with a fear of suffering racist abuse, James was also relieved to see other England players miss penalties in the quarter-final tie against Sweden after her own spot-kick was saved.

"A lot of the time fans don't know what is going on, they only know what is in front of them," she said.

"They don't know what someone is dealing with, what is going on in their life. I always say to the fans, be mindful, you don't know what someone is dealing with out there. You could just be adding on to it.

"No player goes into a game or into a season thinking I'm not going to try. It was a Euros, they don't come around often. You could have one leg hanging off, I will still tell you that I'm going to try to play."

James was viewed as a key figure for England manager Sarina Wiegman in their European campaign in Switzerland, and started all six games as the Lionesses retained their title.

But in the latter stages of the competition, she struggled to produce her best form and injury meant she was taken off at half-time in the semi-final against Italy, as well as during the first-half of the final win over Spain.

It transpired James had suffered an injury against Sweden that will now keep her out of the start of Chelsea's 2025-26 campaign.

Still in a protective boot when she spoke to BBC Sport at the club's Cobham training ground, James said she had tried to play through the pain in order to help the team.

"I was obviously fighting to be fit for the Euros, then suffered another injury in the quarter-finals, and tried to play on," she revealed.

"Then people assume you're not trying, but at the end of the day I'm in a ridiculous amount of pain which caused me to come off at half-time in the semi-finals and before half-time in the final."

James also suffered a series of injuries last season limiting her to just 17 appearances and four goals for Chelsea as they won a domestic treble.

She has no return date for the Women's Super League champions, and is taking things "day by day".

James said she had an idea of how bad her injury was during the Sweden tie, but wanted to carry on playing to help her team.

"I know when something is not right," she added. "But we had no more subs left [against Sweden] so I had to stay on the pitch. And then it's a Euros semi-final, I didn't think it was a major injury so I tried to play [against Italy]. Then we're in the final, I can't not play, so I tried again.

"And obviously we won, but I didn't feel great. I didn't play how I wanted to play, I couldn't dribble, I couldn't run properly."

When asked if the injury problems and the criticism affected how much she enjoyed the success of back-to-back titles, she said "for sure".

"It was an amazing achievement, but during the last two games I wasn't able to help the team," she added. "To also get negative comments, from fans and the public - sometimes people are too quick to judge."

What sort of comments?

"England are playing with 10 men, she's lazy, she's not trying," revealed James. "I'm like, I'm injured! It does put you down."

James had played a key role in getting England through the group stage - she scored twice in the 4-0 win over the Netherlands.

But she missed her side's second spot-kick in the penalty shootout quarter-final win over Sweden - and admitted being scared of getting racist abuse.

Team-mates Beth Mead, Alex Greenwood and Grace Clinton also failed to score before England eventually progressed 3-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

However, James' England team-mate Jess Carter revealed she was subjected to racism online after the game and during the tournament. Carter subsequently said she feared James would face "astronomical abuse" if her missed penalty had decided the outcome against Sweden.

When England's men lost to Italy on penalties in the Euro 2020 final, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka - who all missed penalties - suffered racist abuse on social media.

Asked if that was on her mind in Zurich, James admitted: "For sure. Stepping up, I was thinking, if I miss I hope I'm not the only one because I know what comes with it - it happened before and keeps happening.

"As sad as it sounds, it was the biggest relief ever that other players missed. Who would have thought that? You always want your team-mates to score so you get through.

"Luckily we missed and got through, but it was not a nice moment - you are playing for your country so you should feel the support from the fans. It shouldn't matter what colour you are."

But James said that sort of treatment would still never make her think twice about representing her country.

"It's where I'm from, where my mum is from, I always dreamed of playing for my country," she added.

"We do great things with England - back-to-back Euros, thankfully I was part of the last one. I want to be part of every one going forward."

Chelsea open the WSL season at home to Manchester City on Friday and face a hard ask to improve on their first campaign under manager Sonia Bompastor, where they won the league, FA Cup and League Cup.

But, having lost to Barcelona in the semi-finals, the hunger for a first Champions League title has been increased by Arsenal's triumph over the Spaniards in last year's final.

"Arsenal winning it last year shows the standard of English football," said James. "It shows how standards are high, and makes us feel, yeah, we need to go and win it."