Nikita Parris had a strange feeling she had never felt before. It took her a while to diagnose it as “butterflies.” If the best player in England’s 2-1 win over Scotland was nervous, she hid it behind a wall of brilliance in a spectacular World Cup debut.

Parris, 25, combined with Lucy Bronze, England’s Champions League winning right-back, to devastate Scotland’s left side. The goal celebration for Parris’s 14th-minute penalty will also go down in women’s football folklore. World Cups create new global stars and Parris is already one step down the road to being one of the faces of France 2019.

Irrepressible and tricky down England’s right-flank, Parris announced herself to the tournament by curling in England’s first goal from the penalty spot and then peeling away, slapping the England crest on her jersey and leaping into the arms of Phil Neville’s substitutes, who jumped off the bench as one to proclaim the breakthrough. “The atmosphere’s there to intimidate you, but I try to soak it all in, because the more atmosphere I get in my body the more passionate I am about putting the ball in the back of the net,” she said.

Parris also held up four fingers to the crowd, a gesture she later explained while holding the player of the match trophy. “The ‘four’ were me, Toni [Duggan], Abbie [McManus] and Mary Earps - the four musketeers, constantly together,” she said. “They’ve helped me through my journey, with England and Manchester City. I appreciate them very much. And moving forward I’m going to need them even more.”