Keira Walsh was explaining how Barcelona had come from 2-0 down to win their third Champions League trophy when three of her team-mates interrupted the live interview to lift her into the air. ‘She’s the best, the best!’ Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic shouted as an almost embarrassed-looking Walsh tried to recompose herself. This was the England midfielder’s first taste of European glory and something tells you it will not be the last.
‘Are you going to remain here, is this what you want?’ Walsh was asked. Her response was simple.
‘You want to be playing in these games, you want to be winning Champions Leagues and this is the club that does that, so yeah.’
The motivation to win this competition was the driving force behind the midfielder’s move from Manchester City for a record fee last summer.
Had City qualified for the group stage, she would likely have stayed. For a second year running they were knocked out by Real Madrid before the domestic season had properly begun. That defeat pushed her towards Spain – and who can blame her?
Keira Walsh’s Champions League win with Barcelona is likely to be the first of many for her
While there was an element of risk involved in her move to Spain, she fit in at Barcelona
But there was an element of risk in the move. Walsh was made for a team like Barca but walking into their starting XI is easier said than done. Then there is the language barrier. Walsh, who speaks with a strong Rochdale accent, takes Spanish lessons but would admit herself that she is far from fluent. Thankfully, her football can do most of the talking. She has been helped by playing alongside Patri Guijarro, who Walsh has mentioned in nearly every interview she has done since joining Barca. After her two goals in Sunday’s final, Walsh insisted Guijarro is the best player in the world. She may well be, but Walsh too can put herself in that bracket – as Guijarro herself asserted.
‘Playing with Keira, it makes football easier. It’s true that it’s not easy to adapt to FC Barcelona. She’s done that in record time. She’s adapted so well because of her ability to understand football.’
Walsh is not one for the limelight, on or off the pitch. She may not win you a game by firing a long-range shot into the top corner but she is the lynchpin for club and country. While England will miss their injured players at the World Cup, there are able deputies. You cannot replace Walsh, no other English player comes close.
No player would be able to replicate what Walsh does for the England national team this year
From a selfish viewpoint her move to Barca was a shame in that it deprived English fans the chance to watch her week in week out after the Lionesses’ Euros success. But it would have been a greater shame had she not been on the European stage, where she belongs. To keep the best English players in the WSL, clubs not only have to compete with Barca on a football level but on a financial one too.
Indeed, one English manager said privately their eyes had bulged when they saw the wages of one of Barca’s star players and it seems their offer to Ona Batlle is way above what Manchester United are willing to pay to keep her.
Walsh was not the only player to leave City for a move abroad last summer. She was joined at Barca by Lucy Bronze – who on Sunday became the first English woman to lift the Champions League with two different clubs. Georgia Stanway signed for Bayern Munich and won the league title while Caroline Weir’s first act as a Real Madrid player was to help knock her former side out of Europe. Chelsea and Arsenal reaching the semi-finals showed English teams are getting closer but there is still a significant gap between them and Barca. It is now 16 years since Arsenal became the first and only WSL team to win the Champions League. England’s players, though, are flourishing. ‘We’re very lucky to have her,’ Caroline Graham Hansen said of Walsh. In time we may see Walsh return to lift the trophy with an English club but, for now, the privilege is Barca’s.
Maya Le Tissier’s absence from the England World Cup squad could be a long-term blessing
No Le Tissier conspiracy… Maya’s absence was harsh but could be a blessing
Last week was not the first time a Le Tissier has been snubbed by England ahead of a World Cup.
Twenty-five years after former Southampton midfielder Matt missed out on the 1998 tournament, Manchester United defender Maya was a surprise omission from Sarina Wiegman’s 23-player squad for this summer.
Despite sharing the same surname and both hailing from Guernsey, the pair are not related – but being from a small island the families do know each other.
Maya, 21, has only two senior caps to her name but it felt incredibly harsh that she missed out after an impressive season in a United team that finished with the best defensive record in the WSL.
Unlike Matt, who was 30 when he failed to make the 1998 squad, Maya has time and several tournaments in front of her. Unlike some of her team-mates, she will get longer to recover, recharge and come back even more determined for next season.
Le Tissier has all the qualities to be a future captain of the Lionesses and, though it will not feel like it now, this could prove to be a blessing.
Unrelated namesake Matt Le Tissier was overlooked for the England World Cup team in 1998
US Women’s 12-0 defeat to Wrexham under the spotlight
A group of US women’s players were beaten 12-0 in a 7-a-side tournament by a Wrexham team that contained retired, guest and current professionals.
This was great news for those who believe the best women’s players are merely as good as a local pub team.
After years of clinging on to ‘that time an U15 boys side beat the US World Cup winners’, they now have a new reason to assert why women shouldn’t play the game.
What these people fail to acknowledge is that this ‘US women’ team was made up entirely of retired outfield players and a goalkeeper that has never played for the national side.
But, of course, just as it did with the ‘match’ with the U15s (which was nothing more than an informal kickabout), context does not matter.
Leah Williamson said it best in a documentary promoting last year’s Euros: ‘If you are a football fan, not a rugby fan, you don’t want rugby to not exist. You just think that football’s better. But if it’s women then it means we need to remove it.
‘Well we’re not going anywhere.’
Goalkeeper Lindsey Harris, with no national team experience, impressed with her saves
Man United fans form group to force ‘meaningful’ investment
A collection of Manchester United fans have formed an ‘unofficial supporters group’ in a bid to force the club into ‘substantial and meaningful’ investment.
An open letter, which was published on Monday, said: ‘We strongly believe that the women’s team has been undervalued, disregarded, mismanaged, and frequently relegated to secondary status and an afterthought by the club’s hierarchy, which is a matter of great concern.
‘This is a crucial stage in the growth of women’s football, and we are concerned that our women’s team will be left behind if the club fails to direct its effort into developing a winning team, not only in England but on the European stage.’
As well as calling for greater investment in the team, supporters want the club to improve training facilities, forge better relationships with the media and improve their ticketing system.
