Northumberland star Lucy Bronze's tattoos explained including iconic North East castle | Chronicle Live

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Lucy Roberta Tough Bronze has been the backbone of the Lionesses this European Championship. Supplying a vital goal and subsequent penalty in the nail-biting quarter-final match against Sweden, she proved herself to be a formidable and nigh-on unstoppable force in women's football.

Her status as a titan of the sport was solidified even more last night when the Lionesses defeated Spain. Bronze celebrated on a leg that had been broken for the entirety of the tournament. The lass from the North East simply doesn't know how to stop.

But while many were watching her feet during the match last night, some eyes were drawn to the ink on her arm and wrist. The story behind them is heartwarming, though not widely known.

In a video for Chelsea Women's FC, she describes her largest tattoo in great detail, "I think this is the tattoo that people recognise me the most with. Not quite a sleeve. I originally got it because I really like the pattern, but obviously, the main bit for me is that it says familia.

"With my Portuguese side, it always felt like I wanted to have something from Portugal because people always see me as English, and I was born here. But my Portuguese side means a lot to me, and my family means the most to me in the world, and obviously, I travel the world and do so many things, but it's just a nice reminder that my family is always there.

"The pattern is just something I really like. I really like the way it looked on my arm. But, for me, it was definitely that I just wanted something that was for my family, and not a little bit subtle."

Before being added to, the Familia tattoo was initially much simpler. She got the initial tattoo when she was 18 and living in America "I got the stars first... I was at college and we'd just won the championship.

"Some of the girls went to get tattoos, so I just went with them and got stars. It didn't really mean anything, so that's why I wanted to do more.

"So then, when I was 21, I did the rest. And I actually drew it all myself. So I drew all that Familia, the birds, the castle, and took it to the tattoo artist, and they just put it on my wrist. So it says Familia, which is Family, but in Portuguese. My dad's side of the family are all Portuguese, with the olive branch underneath.

"And this is the castle where my English family were kind of raised, on a little island in the North East of England called Holy Island, and on the top of the island is the little castle and it's really, really small, so that's the castle there with the birds flying off."

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Speaking on the tattoo she never got, it all stemmed from a bet made in the 2015 World Cup in Canada: "I always wanted one on my foot, but I never did it. Actually, at the World Cup in 2015, me and one of the girls, Jordan Nobbs, we had a bet that if one of us scored, we had to get a tattoo in the place where we scored.

"But I ended up scoring with my head, so we said no, no tattoo. But maybe in the future."

While the official reason for the puzzle piece tattoo on the back of her arm is unknown, many suggest it has something to do with Bronze's diagnosis of Autism and ADHD. The player spoke to BBC Sport about the diagnosis earlier this year before the Euros kicked off.

"Four years ago, I did a test, found out that I have autism, but at the same time, it was something I always knew about in a way. I can remember when I was younger being treated a bit differently because of how I was acting. When I did this diagnosis, I was diagnosed with ADHD as well. It's quite common for neurodiverse [people] if you show signs of one thing, a lot of them relate so closely.

"It's my hyperfocus, football. Like everyone's like "You're so passionate about football," and I'm like "I don't know if I'd say I'm passionate, I'm just obsessed". And I'm like, that's my autism."

The Autism Society states that the puzzle piece pattern reflects the complexity of the autism spectrum, but many autistic people can take it to mean whatever they want. Some feel that their diagnosis is the missing puzzle piece for their understanding of the world, and some can also feel that it can represent the spectrum of perspectives and experiences autistic people may have.

Recent affiliation with controversial charity Autism Speaks has made it less popular, but for many, it can represent their perception of Autism rather than anyone else's.