THE BRONZE STANDARD
Lucy Bronze joined Lyon in the summer of 2017 after soaring through the Women’s Super League at Sunderland, Everton, Liverpool and Manchester City. Suffice to say, things have gone well since: the 28-year-old right-back has lifted consecutive Women’s Champions League titles, and last season she became the first English footballer to win the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award. Now, she tells FFT about life at the world’s greatest team...
“Before joining Lyon, I used to watch the Champions League draw and pray that we didn’t get them. Basically, you were out if you did.
In 2017, when I was still playing for Manchester City, we faced Lyon in the semi-finals of the Champions League. The first game was in Manchester and I can remember standing on the pitch, looking at their team and just thinking, ‘Wow’. They literally had all the best players in the world.
We lost 3-1 at home and then went to France for the return leg. I’d played at the Emirates Stadium and Anfield, but nothing prepared me for walking out in front of 20,000 people at their ground. I think around 5,000 fans had been at the Academy Stadium to see the first leg, and that was against the best team in the world.
After the second leg, which we won 1-0, Ada Hegerberg jokingly asked me when I was going to join Lyon. I didn’t think she even knew who I was! Then, after the 2016-17 season had finished, they made a formal approach. Part of me wanted to stay with City, because I wanted to play for an English team that was trying to be as ambitious as Lyon. But I also knew that would take time. I couldn’t say no.
It’s a complete shock if Lyon lose to another team. We beat Ajax 13-0 on aggregate in last season’s Champions League last 16, and this season we’ve beaten a Russian team, Ryazan, 16-0 on aggregate. It’s not weird either, as those kinds of results are expected of us. It comes from within the club. It’s probably more the girls’ mentality than pressure from the coach – even when we were 9-0 up at Ryazan in the 78th minute, we didn’t sit back. We want to score goals as well as get results.
I’ve been aware of the doubt culture in English women’s and men’s teams since picking up my first England cap in 2013. I think you’ve got to have an edge in sport, and it’s why Lyon are so successful season after season. The club and players have such crazy belief in themselves – so much that opposing teams think we’re going to win before we even kick a ball.
It’s nice that Phil Neville [England’s manager] believes I’m the best player
in the world, but if the girls in the Lyon squad can do things that I can’t, then I’m not as good as them and therefore not the best.
I’ve always been athletic and I’ve always worked hard, but I’ve improved as a player since coming to Lyon. I’ve learned how to keep the ball – I don’t think a side has had more possession in a game against us – and now that I’m playing with footballers who make the best decisions and have the most technical ability, I’ll continue learning. I was star-struck at the beginning and kept looking at all the famous names on the lockers, but they’re just regular girls and playing alongside them has become normal for me.
In my opinion, the French team are the most talented side in the world at the moment. Over their entire squad, they have more talented players than the United States, England, Germany and the Netherlands, but the US have that mad self-belief and it helps them to win games. It’s starting to shift in England, though, and I do believe we did everything we could to reach the World Cup final. It’s really important for England players to get experience abroad, like myself, Nikita [Parris], Izzy [Christiansen] and Alex [Greenwood] at Lyon, and Toni Duggan at Atletico Madrid, as you get an insight into the mentality of foreign players. You can already see how it’s changed England for the better, even if we didn’t quite win the World Cup.
I don’t get recognised much in Lyon, at least not in the way that someone iconic like Wendie Renard, our captain, does. I prefer to stay at home, cook for myself, watch TV and hang out with my dog. I played in almost 50 games for club and country last season, and ran an average of 11km per game, so my body is pretty tired. I have to take ice baths and stimulate my muscles with electric pads. That’s a wild night in for me these days!
I’ve got no plans to leave Lyon, but one day I’d like to win the Champions League with an English team. [Brazil international] Formiga is 41 years old and still one of the best players on the pitch when we play PSG, so I think I’ve got some time.”