On the surface, it appears as though Lucy Bronze has nothing left to achieve at club level. The 32-year-old has won it all. Her honours list includes the Women’s Super League, the Women’s FA Cup, the Women’s League Cup and the UEFA Women’s Champions League. That’s without mentioning her domestic trophies in both France and Spain.
The right-back is a serial winner – but there is one thing she’s yet to achieve: winning the UEFA Women’s Champions League with an English club. Speaking at the WSL’s media day in Birmingham, she revealed that “winning the Champions League with an English team has always been my dream.”
“I won the Champions League for the first time at Lyon, but nothing would ever be as good as doing it with an English team. That’s something that I felt playing for England as well: winning a tournament with England means more to me than anything else.”
That maiden Champions League title came under the guidance of none other than Sonia Bompastor, who has replaced Emma Hayes as Chelsea boss and will oversee her first competitive fixture on Friday night when the Blues welcome Aston Villa to Kingsmeadow.
Bronze faced off against her new boss in Bilbao in May, inflicting defeat on Bompastor’s Olympique Lyonnais side as she claimed yet another trophy with Barcelona. Bompastor and her assistant, Camille Abily, were seen engaging in discussions with the full-back following the final whistle, and Bronze confirmed that “part of [deciding to] come to Chelsea was working with those two again, knowing that they are so demanding and have really high standards.”
“She knows what I’m capable of. I can change may game depending on who I’m playing with,” Bronze commented, going on to add that “I know what they can bring to a team. That could be the thing that takes Chelsea to another level. If we can get the best out of all these things that we’ve got and the talent that we’ve got, then I think we would be unstoppable against most teams.”
“Sometimes it’s not just talent that you need. Those last bits: the knowhow of winning the final, being ready and focused, having clear minds going into that final – Sonia, myself and Camille can add that to Chelsea and push this team over the line because the talent’s there,” she expressed, reflecting on the areas in which the Blues have fallen short in previous European campaigns.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhile Bronze now has five UEFA Women’s Champions League medals, she’s also experienced heartbreak in the competition. During her first stint at Manchester City, the club crashed out in the semi-final; the full-back insists that she “learnt a lot from that experience, but Chelsea are in a different position to what City were then.”
“Chelsea have been to the final. They’ve beaten the top teams. So they are already in a lot better position. Adding that small bit at the end, it’s the biggest push but the smallest little bit is needed to try to win the trophy.”
“Sonia and I had a chat about this a couple of weeks ago. She said to me, ‘What do you think is missing at Chelsea?’ and I was like, ‘Nothing, they’ve got everything.’ Sonia replied, ‘I know, I thought that as well!’”
“This club has more things at their disposal than a lot of the teams I’ve played for.”
“I always get asked how does it compare to Lyon and Barcelona. I’ve loved my time at both those clubs and the players and talent at those clubs was unbelievable, but they didn’t necessarily have all those resources in place to back the team, whereas Chelsea have all the resources and the talent there.”
Lucy Bronze’s Chelsea take on Aston Villa on Friday, 20 September with kick-off scheduled for 19:00 UK. You’ll be able to follow that match and hear the managers’ reactions right here on FromTheSpot.
