Lionesses hero Chloe Kelly is preparing to face Sweden in the Euro 2025 quarter-finals – but she was once left confused by a comment from Richard Madeley during an interview following her Euro 2022 heroics
Lionesses’ star Chloe Kelly once found herself in an awkward situation with TV veteran Richard Madeley. The Arsenal striker is preparing to face Sweden on Thursday evening as Sarina Wiegman’s England side aims to progress to the Euro 2025 semi-finals.
However, back in August 2022, just two days after Kelly’s memorable extra-time winner against Germany, the England hero experienced a strange moment with Madeley, 69, during an interview on Good Morning Britain.
Madeley bizarrely referred to Kelly as ‘Coco’, a nickname he uses for his own daughter, Chloe. The presenter left viewers puzzled when he concluded the interview by saying: “Chloe – or ‘Coco’ as I call my daughter Chloe – Coco, thank you very much indeed for coming in.”
Kelly responded with an uncomfortable smile, and many GMB viewers were not pleased with Madeley casually using his daughter’s pet name. Viewers then took to X, formerly Twitter, to express their confusion.
One fan of the show said: “I have to say, I cannot imagine a young male player who’d just scored the winning goal for England in a final going on TV and being told “Colin – or ‘Col-Col’ as I call my son Colin – Col-Col, thank you very much indeed for coming in.”
Another added: “Patronising. Just as news got overtaken by entertainment, so entertainment gets overtaken by a dreary assumption that everyone is friends and we are just as interested in the host as the guest. She deserves better.”
Madeley was also called out for being “creepy”. A third poster wrote: “Richard calling that lioness footballer the same nickname he calls his daughter is just creepy and totally inappropriate. She’s called Chloe, not Coco!” A fourth said: “Richard that sounded really creepy. “
Kelly has moved on from the odd episode as the Lionesses gear up to take on Sweden, hoping to reach another major final following their World Cup final loss to Spain in 2023.
Despite a shaky start against France at this year’s Euros, England bounced back with victories over the Netherlands and a remarkable 6-1 thrashing of Wales.
At 27, Kelly is still coming to terms with the fame brought by Euro 2022 however. She said (via the Express): “It’s been great, some highs, some lows and some in-betweens. It’s definitely taken some adjusting but I’m just me, a girl from London loving her football and that’s what I’ll always be.”
With England peaking at the crucial moment, Kelly is confident in the team’s ability to overcome the Swedes. She added: “We work really hard on the training pitch, in the gym, making sure we’re prepared when we go on to the pitch and we have a great group of girls so it’s about enjoying the whole experience as a group.
“We have such quality in our team which is great for us. Not only in the games but in the training sessions we’re pushing each other, too. It’s healthy competition. You have to be at your best here and that’s really important.”
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