ENGLAND’s mauled Lionesses were urged by manager Mark Sampson yesterday to claim the title of unofficial European champions by beating Germany in the third-place play-off. 

After their last-gasp own goal in the 92nd minute against Japan to miss out of the final, a bruised England were called on to pick themselves up and start looking towards Euro 2017. 

“For us this is a European final. It’s not a third/fourth-place play-off for us. This is our final.“We are going to play the European champions, we’re going to try to leave this tournament as the European champions.”

England lost 3-0 to the Germans in front of a 45,000-strong crowd at Wembley last year but are a much improved side since the defeat.

Germany rule European football, having won the last six European Championship titles and they were three goals clear by half-time in the Wembley clash and able to coast through the second half.

Sampson told FATV: “How many times in your life do you get the chance to be a genuine history-maker?

“These players have embraced that challenge. They gave their all to try and make history, and they have, and I know for sure they are going to be desperate to do it again.

“It’s a challenge. We all saw that back in November, but this team will show how far they have come since then.”