Reiten was named in the starting line-up but was deployed in a somewhat unfamiliar left wing-back position as she completed all 90 minutes in the knockout tie.

Norway struggled to get into the game from the beginning. They spent the opening 25 minutes without a shot on goal, while Barbara Bonansea was terrorising their defence by putting six of Italy's total of 11 crosses into the box during the first half.

Yet just before the referee blew the whistle for half-time, Norway youngster Signe Gaupset spotted Laura Giuliani off her line and let fly with an audacious shot from just over halfway. To the relief of the opposition goalkeeper, the attempt went just wide of the left-hand post.

The Azzurre came out after the break firing, and took the lead after five minutes when captain Girelli got on the end of Sofia Cantore's diagonal ball inside the box.

Continuing to press forward, Cantore stabbed the ball home just a few minutes later after a goalmouth scramble, but her attempt was ruled out for offside.

The game had sparked into life. Norway were awarded a penalty when Elena Linari attempted to stop Ada Hegerberg inside the box by wrapping both arms around her waist. Up stepped Hegerberg with a chance to draw her side level, but she put her shot wide of the post.

Five minutes later, that miss was absolved when Hegerberg latched on to a long ball over the top and calmly slotted home the finish.

The minutes ticked by and it seemed like extra time would be the most likely outcome. Then, in the 90th minute, Cantore delivered a looping cross into the box and Girelli scored with a fine header high into the net to put Norway out of the competition.