Christiansen wants to knock Germans off their perch at Euros

CITY and England Women’s midfielder Isobel Christiansen has high hopes of reaching the Euro final and taking on Germany.

Finishing the highest of any European team at the 2015 World Cup, grabbing a third-place victory from the Germans, Christiansen hopes that England could do the same again if they were to face their biggest rivals in the final.

“The Germans have got a very profound reputation in women’s football, obviously a lot of admiration for their sustained success, but to knock them off their perch would be a great achievement,” she said.

With the tournament fast approaching, manager Mark Sampson’s senior women’s team has been putting in a lot of effort into making sure his squad is the best it can be.

This will be Christiansen’s first international tournament and she is looking to achieve the high expectations of her and her fellow team-mates.

“I don’t get up everyday and work as hard as I do if I don’t want to win and I think that this England team has got a genuine chance of going to Holland in the summer and bringing back a gold medal,” she said.

“It is important to manage our expectations to make sure we put the yards in so that it is in the bank and it is ready to be used come the Euros.”

At the age of 25, Christiansen is one of the youngest players to be selected as one of the 23 players being taken out to Holland next month.

She will be alongside seven of her team-mates from City Women, including club and country captain Steph Houghton.

“I think that it shows Manchester City are doing great things for women’s football, but more so I think just girls from all around the country playing for their different teams will come together really nicely and I am very excited as to what we can do as a team this summer,” said the City star.

Christiansen also reflected on the recent Spring Series that was set up to allow Women’s Super League (WSL) teams to have game time ahead of the Euros and prior to the Euros.

“I think it has been a good chunk of games to sort of prepare players and the most important thing was insuring that the players selected for this year’s squad are in tip-top condition and the spring season has set up nicely for that.”

England will face Scotland on July 19, Spain on July 23 and Portugal on July 27 in the group stages.