I agree with our manager Gareth Taylor that after a strong second half of the season, we might not have had the credit we deserve at .
During this campaign, we have seen the best and worst of the team, I don’t think we can deny that, but I do believe we deserve more recognition than we have received.
have been very consistent over four or five years and people talk about them being so dominant.
Lyon have been the dominant team in Europe over the past few years and it does take a lot to reach that kind of level for any team, although Chelsea continue to dominate domestically.
I do think Lyon are the benchmark but it is great to see teams such as Chelsea and Barcelona competing for major titles on a regular basis because you can see the women’s game being elevated all across Europe currently, which is reflected in the competitiveness of the Champions League now.
There are similarities between City and Chelsea, as clubs overall, in that we have got used to having a target on our backs due to the investment that there has been in both clubs. The same could now be said for Newcastle men and they may find themselves in a similar position in the coming years.
We may have lost the FA Cup final 3-2 to Chelsea in extra-time on Sunday but I feel we have gone massively under the radar. We were eighth in Women’s Super League before Christmas and ended up third, qualifying for the Champions League.
We weren’t challenging for the title but we won the Continental Cup and were finalists in the FA Cup. Even without an injury crisis that at one point deprived us of ten first-team players, myself included, that constitutes a good season.
Chelsea know how to win games and we have had to go all-out to play catch-up and get that third spot. I think our midfielder Keira Walsh has been the most in-form player in the entire league and I don’t see her getting enough recognition.
There have been some great moments in the season, such as beating Double winners Chelsea to win the Conti Cup at AFC Wimbledon in March. Beating our rivals at Manchester United to the final Champions League place was pretty good as well.
Sunday was hard for everyone involved and of course we wanted to win a second trophy but it was nice to be back at Wembley in front of such a large crowd after going there in the middle of the pandemic last time to lift the cup at an empty stadium after beating Everton in extra-time.
It was also great to have the FA Cup final back as the last game of the season again after playing catch-up to fit in the 2020 and 2021 finals.
Now, as England players, our attention turns to the summer and the mouth-watering prospect of a home European Championship.
I know I am one of the most experienced players in the squad currently and have to share my experience of major tournaments with some of the younger girls.
But it is an incredibly exciting time to be in the game and we all know that. The Lionesses matches have already sold out, as has the final at Wembley, and so I tell the girls to take in every bit of what will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We are now ready to start the build-up to something that I’m sure will be bigger than any of us realise.
■Lucy Bronze is a long-standing ambassador for Team Kenya, who involve entire communities in gender equality so girls in rural Kenya can create their own bright futures —
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