The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Barcelona reign and retain Champions League title – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack are joined by Sophie Downey and Ceylon Andi Hickman to review Barcelona’s 2-0 over Lyon in Bilbao

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to The Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Barcelona, they have done it again. Back-to-back Women's Champions League titles after beating Lyon in Bilbao. We'll discuss the impact of Jonathan Giraldez

as the Barca boss bows out on a high. The season's only just finished, but the Lionesses are back in action with a doubleheader against France. We'll preview the European qualifiers and we'll also look ahead to Emma Hayes' first game as US Women's National Team coach. All that plus, as always, we'll take your questions. More of them than usual, in fact.

And that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly is supported by Google Pixel, the only phone engineered by Google, an official mobile phone of Arsenal Football Club, Liverpool Football Club and the England teams. Google Pixel's working with the FA, Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC to close the visibility gap between men's and women's football with the formation of Pixel FC, a collective of next-generation creators and presenters dedicated to covering the women's game. They'll have exclusive access to players, additional resources and content creation opportunities to give women's football the visibility it deserves.

Search Google Store to find out more. Oh, what a panel we have today. Dreamy, in fact. Susie Rack, how's your week been? Exhausting. Exhausting. I'm obviously building up to a Champions League final is like brilliantly fun but also tiring oh I saw all the fantastic museums and galleries and everything that you went to in Bilbao looked absolutely incredible Salon Andy Hickman are you still celebrating how many tattoos are on your body right now we are Dalek Jamlet and we've won the bleeping league uh yes I I am still celebrating. We haven't stopped. Two new tattoos on the body.

It has been completely absurd, really. It feels like we had celebrations fit for winning the Champions League or World Cup rather than Tier 5 of the Women's Pyramid, but our fans know how to party. We took over a roundabout in East Dulwich on Sunday night till the early hours of the morning. All the police cars coming through, you had to beep for us, the buses, et cetera. And there was an Argentinian woman there as a fan

and apparently she turned and said to someone, it's like being at home. I'm pleased for your body that you're not a Manchester City fan, I have to say. You'd be in some serious pain. Faye, I want to go on record and say I absolutely Jack Grealished it at the celebrations. I was drunk for days and I'm still being sent videos and voice notes of things that I did that I'm not very aware of. So I'll take his crown, I'd say.

I hope for your sake they've been deleted. Sophie Downey, always lovely to see you. Also, sunning yourself, you went off to Portugal, travelled over to Bilbao. You're such a jet setter. Living the life, having a much needed break after a long season. Well, I say after a long season, it just seems never ending at the moment. So somewhere in the middle of the end and the end.

So yeah, no, it was good. There's never ever an end. We've got the Lionesses coming up, the international break, an eye on Emma Hayes. We're going to talk about all of that in part two. But of course, we're going to start with the Champions League final. Can anything or anyone stop Barcelona? Jonathan Giraldez's all-conquering team completed the quadruple and became back-to-back European champions in the process. They lifted the prestigious Champions League trophy for the third time

and they beat Lyon for the first time. It was a really cracking match in Bilbao and it finished Barcelona 2-0. Second-half goals from Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Puteus sent a partisan Estadio San Mame into full party mode. Suzy Barcelona controlled much of the ball, you'd expect that, but it was kind of relatively even in terms of chances created.

But what was the atmosphere like and what did you make of the match? I mean, the atmosphere was absolutely electric, not just around the stadium before the game but like i was getting a tram to near isha stadium about midday and there were people singing barcelona's anthem on the tram like already like at midday six hours before kickoff like it was just electric everywhere there were just barcelona fans absolutely everywhere and bilbao is like a proper big football city. Bilbao flags everywhere, branded crisps. We walked past a bakery and there was a soft toy in the window of the bakery with an athletic scarf on it sat in the middle of the pastries, like literally they're obsessed with football.

And yet it was just Barcelona absolutely swarming the place like it was their home stadium. And then, yeah, the vibe in the stadium itself was insane. Like the stand was shaking at one point when they were jumping. It was just absolutely incredible. It did make me think, you know, Lyon have gone so many years with a very, very, very small pocket of hardcore fans following this incredibly brilliant team.

And yet we get to this point and Barcelona have pulled in this huge huge fan base within a relatively short period of time comparatively and I 100% think it made a difference as well I really do think that it was a really really important part of the puzzle and you think if Lyon had built a fan base anywhere near that they'd be potentially rivaling them a little bit more on the pitch as well although it was a pretty even game great game but yeah the atmosphere was insane it shows doesn't it that actually the growth of women's football is has so many different use this analogy jigsaw pieces to it and everybody plays a really vital part and perhaps Leon haven't quite got their marketing part right despite their

dominance for so many years it was always going to take something or someone potentially special to break the deadlock salon because it was so evenly matched and Barcelona have that in Bon Mati probably could have written that she would be on the score sheet but did she prove once again why she's the best in the world I think she did in that minute yeah I think it took her a while to get into the game but that's what you need right in those moments of a game where it's nil-nil and someone has to break the deadlock. She was also really clever. And let's talk about Guijara's movement there as well, because if she doesn't drop in,

and Ellie Carpenter had been doing it all game, following her in, but Matty realises the space, and I think it's a quick little triangle. She receives the ball back from Guijara, and she knows exactly where she's going, because the pitch has opened up for her to drive into the box. I do feel for Vanessa Gillis there, because there's kind of all she can do is slide and that deflection you need that tiny bit of luck in that moment of a game and who better to do it than Bonmati and get everyone in that stadium absolutely fired up it was kind of poetic

that it was Bonmati and Patelis to get the two goals that put them forward but I do think Guijara deserves some credit there for a lot of the movement that she allowed that goal to happen. It wasn't just a piece of individual brilliance, which we've seen time and time again from Bomati, but this one felt like quite tactical, quite strategic, to open up that space and create that opportunity. Yeah, you've got to have the football intelligence

to envisage it's about to happen, though, as well, haven't you? So love for Bomati, but let's give some love to Alexia Puteas as well because she's had to play a slightly smaller on-pitch role at times this season, but she has just signed a new two-year deal with the Catalan side. An injury time goal minutes after coming on just shows the star quality that she has as well.

How important is she still to this team? Absolutely integral, I think. She's that leader, isn't she? Or one of the leaders that they have within them. And I think she's had a real tough time of it at times over the last, what, 24 months. You know, since doing that ACL injury just before Euro 2022, it's taken her a bit of a while to get back to full pelt. You know, she wasn't really fit going to the last World Cup.

She's had injury issues as well this season that's kept her in and out of the side but I think she's been at the club since 2012 you know did some of her youth career there as well and having someone like her still within the ranks still going she's only 30 years old I think she's got that kind of style quality I mean those are kind of moments right that you know not only the goal within two minutes are coming on but the celebration like the brandy chastain shirt over her head and then the bow the trademark bow and it's kind of those moments that really kind of sell this game as well you know it's iconic moments and that will be on t-shirts i guess for barcelona so she brings so much to our quality i think the thing about alexia is that she won those awards didn't she she? But then Aitana's come along and sort of pipped her to the chase a bit.

And it's this kind of battle between these two absolutely star quality players, brilliant players. So people maybe have not talked about her so much in recent seasons, mainly because the injury as well. But I think she's still got it. And I think it was absolutely crucial for them to sign her, given there's a step change happening at Barcelona they're losing the coach to Washington Spirit and there's going to need to be some stability around the place you know as they build into next season and try and go for a third back-to-back win. Yeah you mentioned Jonathan Geraldo's there a tenth piece of silverware for him in his three years in charge at Barca he described the win as the best day of his life.

As you say, he's heading to the NWSL, but his new boss, Michelle Kang, was watching on from the stands. How would you describe his impact on this team, Susie? And how are they going to adjust to life without him? I found that really, really weird. You had Michelle Kang up there for the medal presentation, trophy presentation,

shaking the hand of all of her defeated Lyon players and then her new manager who's coming into Washington's spirit. I mean, I know we've got multi-club situations in men's football. I'm not sure that they should be happening. Should we just be letting this happen in the women's game is one question I would ask because it does feel like a weird conflict, right? Like when you get this kind of situation. But anyway, he's been hugely impactful, right? Like he came through the ranks in Catalonian football, was at Barcelona as assistant manager for a few years before he took over as manager. Like he lives and breathes Barcelona style. So I'm like really interested to see who comes in to replace him as well

because that's someone who is born and bred Barcelona football so you know whether they bring someone in who we know already from like the women's football set or is someone that is sort of you know kind of brought through from the Barcelona academy teams or something like that I think would be really really interesting to see because like how do you maintain the brand of football with someone who doesn't live and breathe it in the same way I don't know so I think that's gonna be really interesting because there's got to be quite a small pool of managers working in the women's game that sort of have that knowledge of that football but yeah I mean I know he's won everything there is to win at Barcelona, but I just don't know why you would leave that team ever.

It's, you know, so incredible to watch them play. They're so fluid. You can really see the potential for them to go on and dominate for sort of 10 years. So like the idea that you'd be pulled away to the NWSL. I mean, I suppose if you're a manager that's only ever known Barcelona football and Catalan football like the desire to show that you can do it somewhere else must be quite strong as well but I think wherever he goes he's going to do a pretty good job it's going to be so interesting to see

that clash of styles of US football being very like transitional versus you know the sort of liquid passing game that he likes to play and how he marries those two styles whether he can marry those two styles whether they're competing and stuff so yeah like I'm super interested to see how he works out and I'm super interested to see who the hell replaces him like it's the toughest job in football to come into a team that's winning right because you come into a team that's winning. Robert Villahan was saying to this around the FA Cup final, he was saying that when he came in at Tottenham, if anything, it was easier because the players were ripe for change.

They needed help. Whereas Barcelona don't need help. They are winning. If a new coach comes in and tries to change something, they're going to go, why? Why would you change a winning formula? There's going to be questions asked. So it's a really difficult, difficult job to come into that is

the challenge though i think that's we asked like why would he want to leave after winning absolutely everything and that is exactly it right it's so much more he's done a perfect job he's finished a season on a quadruple he's beaten leon for the first time he is leaving the team in a brilliant place he can keep doing that for years and years and years but going to a completely new league that is also one of the best leagues in the world as well to try and do something completely different to what that league is used to is fascinating as a challenge as an individual who wants to be at the top of your game as a manager like if he can bring tiki taka possession based football to like the nwsl that is a like sporting evolution

that will go down in the history of women's football right that will change the shape and the direction of that league because the other teams will have to adapt and match and change from a men's game perspective it's like the impact of pep or the impact of clop coming into the premier league where the whole league has to change around it and football evolves and i feel like the nwsl is owed an evolution right i think that form of football a lot of long ball a lot of like yeah transition football it kind of needs to catch up with where La Liga is and where the WSL is in terms of style of play so I think his move could signal and start an evolution of women's football in America that is perhaps overdue and will like have a legacy for a long time to come.

So that, for me, is the really exciting change that he will lead. Wow, I love that perspective on it. I hadn't thought about that at all. Look, we still don't know who is going to take over from him, but there are so many questions about how this Barcelona team go forward and how their dominance is maybe stopped. So Lucy Bronze said that the win meant that they go down in history as one of the best teams in Europe, which is difficult to argue. I mean, they've had a couple of chinks in their armour across the season, but they've always managed to find a way. And Kuda has sent a message to us on X. How long do

you think it's going to take teams to stop or slow down this Barca dominance? They say 2029. What do the rest of Europe need to do to try and mount a challenge because they feel so far behind at the minute? I think that's right in saying that there's been a couple of blips at times this season in the Champions League run at any case, not at home necessarily. And I think you look at that defeat to Chelsea at home their first since February 2019 that was quite a big step change for them I think in terms of being challenged on their own soil and then they were challenged back at Stamford Bridge it didn't go Chelsea's way but there was a big challenge there and I think we've seen as well throughout the season there was a game in

January it didn't really matter much but at the same time it finished 4-4 between them and Benfica absolutely insane game and then also SK Brand got two goals against them and there were just these couple of moments now SK Brand were never going to beat Barcelona I don't think but they had these moments in both games where they had chances to challenge him and I do think there's a big problem up front I don't think Salma is a number nine she's much better utilised out on the wing and you can see that I think on Saturday against Lyon she's not kind of that direct forward player that you want and they don't really have that profile of player within the squad at the moment so that might be something they need to think about over

the summer I know the Spanish or Barcelona are great fans of false nines and all of that, but I'm not sure it's working so well in Europe at the moment as the other teams do progress and catch up. I don't think people will catch them probably next year. There will be challenges, and I think it's going to be interesting to see, as we said, who comes in and how that changes things, because if it's someone in the Barcelona mould, then things stay pretty much the same. If it's someone with different ideas, which I can't imagine it will be, but if it is, then that changes things a bit. So I guess it's kind of a wait and see job. But Lucy said best teams in Europe, I would say best teams in the world. Yeah, yeah, I don't think you can argue too much with that. We'll talk about Lyon in a second. But those celebrations back in Barcelona looked absolutely fantastic. Over 2,000 fans on Sunday in their plaza

that I can't pronounce and won't butcher. They still lead the way domestically in terms of the support and resources available to them. But I mean, there are clearly still problems in Liga F with the lack of investment given by the RFEF, which is the Spanish Football Federation. Last week only, the players were made to present their medals to themselves when they won the Copa de la Reina, which is just ridiculous.

How crucial is it, Susie? It's something we talk about a lot, that things have to improve. But also, where is that change going to actually come from if the federation themselves are utterly useless? Yeah, great question. In a sense, it has to come from the players in the bottom up, to a certain extent they have to push it which is crap because they shouldn't be having to yeah i mean it's mad that you've got this situation you know this quadruple winning team having to hand out their medals after the Copa del Arena to each other less than a year on from the World Cup where you know you obviously have that insane situation after the final.

You know, not supported at national level, not supported at domestic level, bar by their club. It's just appalling. There needs to be a culture shift in Spain as a whole, right? Like, there are a lot of issues with Spanish culture and sexism, racism, homophobia that haven't been dealt with for a very, very long time. And that needs to change if there's going to be change in football as well. It's not like it's separated off and you can make it as some perfect paradigm, but it could lead the way if there was a will. But the problem is, is you need to clear out the RFVF and rebuild it if you're going to change things from the inside out and change things football outwards, which is really disappointing, right? Like, imagine how good this team could be if they were properly backed.

Imagine how good their league could be if it was properly invested in and there was incentive for clubs to invest in their teams and build a really competitive domestic league, it could be brilliant. It's kind of along the same lines. Susie and I were at the House of We Play Strong on Saturday and we got to interview Kenza Darley of Aston Villa. And she was very amazed that she was sitting around a table of English media who didn't have skin in the game in this final, right? There wasn't an English team involved and the fact that English media were out in their numbers covering the game.

So she was kind of surprised at that. But then she was also talking about the leagues around the world and specifically the French League. But I think it probably applies to Spanish League as well in that they have the quality within the ranks. You know, they have the players. They have a really strong cohort of players and talent there but they're just not given the support to be able to show the product and where the WSL does it really well and the NWSL as well is the marketing and the selling of the product and the support that they give to the players in that and making it visible so she was like when I score a goal for Aston Villa, it's on every single channel on social media, Sky Sports, BBC, Match of the Day.

It gets clipped up and it gets put out across all of the sports news organisations and everyone can see it and they can see it clearly and it's not half a head. It's normally pretty good quality and the English really know how to sell the game. So while it's a really good league, the WSL, obviously the fact that

we have managed to over the years garnered that product and that marketability of it has made it really popular within the fans and I know the Lionesses winning the Euros helped that a lot but actually that happened way before then you know 2015 after they came back from the World Cup there was a spike in it as well because the FA have made it a priority to sell the women's game and to build the WSL. And that's what isn't happening abroad. You know, the same in Germany, the same in France and the same in Spain. They all have federations who aren't willing to put the same kind of investment behind them. France hosted a World Cup in 2019 and it didn't have the same effect that we've

seen elsewhere. They're hosting the Olympics this summer and I doubt it will see the same effect because the federation just aren't like putting the same force behind it and the same as Susie just said with the World Cup last summer Spain winning it for the first time in their history absolutely step change in the country and it's not followed up by any sort of investment back home and I think that was kind of key from her I thought it was really interesting what she was saying is that that's kind of where she sees the main difference. It's ridiculous isn't it it's almost stubbornness and just a refusal to see something incredible that's happening and take advantage it's like the worst business decision ever. Anyway let's take a look at Lyon and go more

positive because it wasn't a one-sided final we've talked a lot about Barcelona but Lyon have been so dominant in Europe for such a long time they've won the competition a record eight times but they were just lacking a little something weren't they on Saturday I think they were but they deserve their credit I think the first half was pretty even and they did limit Barcelona, I think, to their lowest XG in a while, or at least in the Champions League so far, I think it was. There were some brilliant standout performances. I thought Salma Basher played very well in large parts of the game

and I felt for her so much at the end with that Patelus goal because you could see she was just completely exhausted with how much work she'd had to do trying to stop Caroline Gray and Hansen on that side. Across the pitch, there were some stand-up performances, but ultimately it came down to two, well, one moment that sort of shifted the game in that 66th minute. But there were chances, and they just didn't take them.

I think they hit the bar in kind of the 20th minute or so. But I think whenever they started to get stuff going and you could feel momentum shifting, Barcelona were brilliant because they just regained possession and they held on to it for as long as possible because they knew if they had the ball, then Lyon weren't going to be able to do much. I think they were slightly limited as well

because Deani was sort of, she really had to defend Rolfo and she was pinned back quite a bit. So their kind of counter-attack threat was pretty neutralised. But overall, it was one of those games that feels like it was the fine margins that defined it, which is what you would expect between these two teams. But it must have felt completely gutting for Lyon, knowing that you're kind of going into that game, never having been beaten by Barcelona,

feeling that this is your tournament, this is your match, this is your final. And to not have put away your chances feels like the things that they'll really regret yeah a bit of change as well going on potentially at Lyon Sonia Bombastour refusing to be drawn on her future but you know we've been talking about it for weeks on the pod widely expected she's going to be announced as the new Chelsea manager how's she going to be remembered in France Susie what what can Chelsea fans expect if she does head over to West London? I mean, she's a legend, like on the pitch more than off it, if anything. But, you know, like a great reputation, won the Champions League with Lyon, you know, has done well-ish as a manager there. It's really hard to tell with Lyon because managers come and go and they're sort of judged on

their impact wherever they end up rather than how well they did at Lyon with a team and go and they're sort of judged on their impact wherever they end up rather than how well they did at Lyon with a team of you know such investment and talent and things the thing that I find really interesting is like I am really curious to see how she does with a setup that doesn't know her like like doesn't know her sort of personally and as a player when you know the setup from top to bottom in the way that she does having come through you know the youth ranks and like also coaching in the academy before she was a manager after she's retired as a player and even you know working in that academy while she's a player as well like I'm just really curious to see how she gets on at a club that doesn't know her as much as she knows it as well I think that's gonna be really interesting where she's sort of going in and it's an an imprint of the club herself um and is going

in and trying to do something and build something not from scratch obviously but that is very very different to everything she's she's sort of you know kind of known in Lyon. I think that's quite exciting. I think it's interesting that, you know, we give huge, amazing eulogies to, you know, Emma Hayes leaving Chelsea, but we've not, I don't think I've seen anyway, like, but I've not looked incredibly closely, but I don't think I've seen the same level of coverage

for the exits of Geraldez or for Sonia Bonpastor from their relative medias which maybe feeds back into what Soph was saying about the general interest from the media and how the federations haven't driven it and that whole cycle of things but yeah how she you know what the Blues can expect I had a really really good chat with Selma Basher ahead of the final who was in the academy being coached by Sonia and Camille Abilie and then when she joined the first team at 16 was playing with both of them you know she just had nothing but good things to say about Bonpastor um she said the one word she would use to describe her as competitive she said she used to dread training with her or like really hope that she'd be on the other team because you knew if you made a mistake if you're in training and you're on Sonia's team

you were in trouble like she would not let you get away with it um and she didn't want to like come up against her so like someone who is despite the sort of you know seemingly very very calm touchline demeanor like incredibly competitive like fiercely competitive and you know like you could say similar about Emma Hayes so you know maybe they're getting someone who isn't actually that different from what they've got or what they had so yeah quite exciting times because I'm really looking forward to seeing what she does with a new team where she's able to stamp herself onto it rather than just exist in the the Leon bubble that she has been in for so so so long Yeah would it be interesting

and exciting times for Leon if reports are correct that we heard on Sunday Soph that Scotland boss Pedro Martinez-Losa is favourite to take over It would be baffling I just can't understand it to be honest I don't know how how do I say this nicely maybe I just go

for the brutalness I don't know how he keeps getting jobs in women's football and how he got a new contract at Scotland I don't get it he's done pretty much nothing with Scotland over the last few years he got given a new contract and I don't really understand why. They lost in the playoff final to Republic of Ireland for the World Cups. They should be winning that game with that squad, to be honest, no disrespect to Republic of Ireland. And then, you know,

the campaign that they've had in the Nations League to take them down to League B and then the abject start to that in this time round where they've drawn with Serbia and beaten Slovakia 1-0. I just don't understand why he keeps getting these jobs, to be honest. So it's baffling to me. I think it's reflective of the coaching pool and how tiny it is in women's football and the quality of the coaches that are out there in women's football that you get people sort of failing up a lot because there's not a huge amount and it's great that there is a whole load of current and former players going to do the pro license together

as a group I think it's like 21 of them or something because I think that's the way it needs to go because there's not enough top quality coaches in women's football yeah it feels as if they know that as well and they know that there's a gap in the market and they can really improve standards by going and doing that did you know that there was a record in the market and they can really improve standards by going and doing that. Did you know that there was a record attendance for the final in Bilbao? It was 50,827. But then I saw that Oslo, the capacity is only 28,000. That just feels like it's going backwards a little bit to me. But anyway, it was an exciting Champions League campaign all round and I very much look forward to next seasons as well that's it for part one in part two we'll look ahead to the upcoming European

qualifiers and we'll answer some of your questions Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Oh, my goodness me. As we said at the top of the pod, the season never ends. Exciting times ahead because the domestic season is over, but we're returning to international football. Euro 2025 qualification is resuming this week. Nations continuing to vie for a spot at next summer's tournament. For the Lionesses, it's a doubleheader with France.

Serena Wiegmann named her England squad a fortnight ago. We brought it to you the second window of the two she announced by the way is in July there are a couple of changes Millie Bright returning from injury and Aggie Beaver-Jones handed a call up after an impressive season with Chelsea

and we had a bit of an update on Monday injury means that Lotta Vubanmoy and Niamh Charles have had to withdraw from this camp Mayor Letizia has moved up from the standby list as a result. Birmingham City goalkeeper Lucy Thomas has been added to the standby list, replacing Kayla Rendell, who's out for injury. Solon, we heard initial thoughts from Susie and Sophie straight after the announcement last week,

but how do you think this squad's going to fare over the next 10 days? I think they're going to be tired I think I think it's like just hearing everything that everyone's been through up until this point in the season one of the most congested seasons they've ever done in their lives and now they are back in straight away luckily they don't well the England girls don't have an Olympics to go to but it is completely exhausting so I saw those photos of Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh arriving at St George's Park and just thinking you've just had one of the best nights of your life after winning that game and you're straight back in and I know they'll

have a few days where they get to recover and stuff but it is kind of you're constantly on so in terms of that yeah I think probably quite tired maybe a little bit resentful as well that they have to be straight back into camp and that's kind of for a coaching and management team who only get them in spurts a focus for them has to be how do you get the best out of a group of players who are at the end of a very long season how do you make this fun and how do you make this some people might hate to hear that because you might think we're playing for England is such an honor but i think whilst that can be true it can also just be relentless on pitch with some of those injury withdrawals i think nice opportunity to see maybe something different although perhaps

i'm forever the optimist thinking that serena might change things each and try some new things out but i think we've seen that in the last few games that we've seen so hopefully we see some new faces getting some moments so hopefully we see some breakthrough performances but yeah a real credit to that coaching and management team who are going to try and have to get the best out of this lot after a very very long season yeah no celebrations on the roundabouts I don't think for Lucy and Keira no tattoos certainly not double tattoos maybe they're welcome anytime they can come and recreate it all with us so England host Herve Renard's side as St James's Certainly not double tattoos. Maybe. They're welcome any time. They can come and recreate it all with us.

So England host Herve Renard's side at St. James's Park on Friday. They head to St. Etienne the following Tuesday. So we all know that the qualities that the French possess, they're a brilliant team. What's going to be the biggest concern for England? Who are the main threats they're going to need to nullify?

The front line, I think. Deani, Katoto, those kind of players can be absolutely, you know, lethal and they've got the pace as well. And I think the worry will be as well what the back line looks like for England, because it's going to be a bit chop and change. Millie Bright is back for the first time in a long time. Is she fully fit yet? Who knows? But can she deal with kind of the pace of Deani or Katoto and those kind of players? Is she up to that level quite yet? Who knows. But can she deal with kind of the pace of Deani or Kototo and those kind of players? Is she up to that level quite yet? Same with Leah Williamson, obviously a bit further along in her recovery,

but also still recovering from that long-term injury and getting back to full fitness. So that's where my major concern would be. Obviously the midfield as well. Someone like, I know she doesn't start all that often, but Kenza Dali. You know, we've seen what she can do in the WSL and the quality that she brings. Those kind of players who can completely unlock a defence. Then again, you look at what happened at the weekend with Selma Basher, right? She's a quality player, but she got absolutely run ragged by Caroline Graham-Hanson.

And when you have someone like, I don't know, a Lauren James or a Lauren Hemp or a Chloe Kelly up up against her will she struggle in the same way with that kind of pace of the wing players so yeah there's going to be lots of areas I think but definitely that front line for France is terrifying. Yeah it feels like a bit of an open group as well Susie doesn't it I mean the Lionesses are in a relatively strong position they've had a draw and a win from their first two matches but it felt a little bit like they lacked some creativity and they invited some pressure at points in their opening two games what do they need to improve on exactly that like effectiveness in the final third finding the pass that's not there um a little bit i actually think you know when you're talking about their lack of creativity the return of and i hope they play, Millie Bright. I hope they're well enough to play.

And Leah Williamson could be actually critical for that because Millie Bright's cross-field balls, Leah Williamson's driving runs and balls through the middle really open up space for the midfield and the attack to work. So for me, them coming back in is quite critical for the whole offensive process I'd like to see the likes of you know Jess Park and Grace Clinton getting on uh and being given a shot because I think we need a little bit of that sort of unknown in there but then again Ella Toon loves a big game so off the back of her FA Cup final heroics like you also you know kind of think she maybe deserves a shot too just a little bit more incisiveness and vision that we only really sort of see from Lauren James or Frank Kirby when there's

a real difficult difficult back line to get through and LJ you know kind of lacks consistency over 90 minutes and Frank Kirby has obviously got a fitness problem so they need an alternative to those two players in finding that pass that is going to unlock a really, really stubborn defence, which hopefully against France, two top teams with the game a little bit more open, that might actually benefit England rather than a team that is, you know,

going to sit back and like defend resolutely. Like hopefully that little bit more space enables some of the others to shine a little bit more in the final third. Yeah, I'm looking forward to see who's going to step up for that one. The Republic of Ireland are looking to get off the mark in the same group. They've got a doubleheader against Sweden kicking off on Friday at the Aviva Stadium Salon. How do you see this one going? It's always going to be a tough test for Ireland, but I wouldn't write them off.

I feel like they can go and get a result. Obviously, Sweden have kind of got a lot to prove as well in terms of sitting third in the group they're going to think this is an easy three points for them but I do think Ireland have shown at the World Cup last summer that they can go out there and get results off teams like Sweden so yeah I think it'll be an interesting game and quite an important one for the the future of the group yeah going to be really interesting, that one as well. Scotland may be without a manager, we don't know yet, Sophie, but they're going to look to progress after a tentative start in League B,

a 1-0 win over Slovakia and a goalless draw with Serbia. They weren't brilliant in either of those games, and now they've got to play Israel back-to-back behind closed doors. What do you expect? Yeah, I think probably not much improvement I would say um I think if anything the last 12 months they haven't improved that much I think I mean on paper right they're the favorites to win both games definitely with the players that they have and it just depends how how those players are feeling at the end of a long season it's kind of the same feeling I guess as with England and

Ireland as well you know these players are coming off the back of a grueling schedule but it would be brilliant if they can get back to full pelt I guess and start playing the football that they kind of showed in glimpses against England in the Nations League in that first game in the opening game they had glimpses of really good spells of possession and really good attacking moves but they generally can't do much with it. So I expect it to be a bit of a struggle, I think. Yeah, quick one on Tanya Oxtoby's Northern Ireland, Susie. They had an equally slow start.

They drew with Malta and then beat Bosnia and Herzegovina last month. They've got a tricky trip to Portugal before then hosting them next week. I mean, they've got to be at their best haven't they to get anything out of those two games yeah it's going to be a really tough challenge you know Portugal have been a rising star is a little bit of a strong like statement but definitely like an improving side in recent years but you know in a group where they've got Malta and Bosnia and

Herzegovina as well like there's a real chance of them getting through to the playoffs pretty comfortably if they play the cards right so the games against Portugal aren't necessarily for them where this group is going to be won or lost so in a sense it's a chance for them to well for Tanya to really work out where her team is at and test them against a decent like just outside the top level side which which I think would be really, really interesting, a real chance to experiment, a real chance to find out exactly what the team can do against an opponent that won't thrash them, but should win. This is where the qualifying stage

and the Nations League and stuff and this sort of format comes into its own, right, where you get a team like Northern Ireland playing teams of a sort of more similar level to it and just only just above it rather than like you know kind of up against a load of the big guns and i think that's what is quite exciting i just want to say as well on the scott and israel games i like personally feel very very uncomfortable with israel being allowed to compete in this tournament when you know russia were banned from international competition yeah i just feel really uncomfortable about that.

But I'm not UEFA. Yeah, difficult decisions to make. Away from European football, it's the start of a new era. Emma Hayes taking charge of the USA for the first time. They'll face the Korea Republic in Colorado for her first game in charge. It's been a very quick turnaround, Solon. She flew out just a couple of days after the end of the WSL season. Bit of a whirlwind for her, but are you expecting her to hit the ground running? Yeah, she's probably knackered as well, to be honest. Everyone's just a bit knackered.

They might be getting a tired, grumpy Emma Hayes when they arrive. But I think she's had to do quite a bit of promo as well. I've seen quite a lot of videos coming out of the US about her arrival. So, yeah, they've been wheeling her out. But, yeah, I'm really excited. a bit of promo as well I've seen quite a lot of videos coming out of the US about her arrival so yeah they've been wheeling her out but yeah I'm really excited I'm excited to see what potential culture clash this could be I'm fascinated to see how the straight talking take no shit Emma Hayes comes into sort of a very glamorous football culture and see what happens there but she's got such an exciting squad she's got an Olympics ahead of her and that's probably for me one of the main

narratives about about the women's football the olympics this year is can the u.s women's national team do it with emma hayes and get a gold medal that they all so desperately want a new challenge for her but yeah i'm just mostly excited for emma hayes and the american press and the press conferences so yeah less less bothered about what actually happens on the pitch, more excited to see what on earth she says in these in these presses and how the American journalists take it and how it gets reported. So that's what I'll be watching for. Brilliant stuff. Listen, my favourite part of the pod every single week is always when I say plus we'll take your questions at the intro because it's really important we always want your input and you send us brilliant questions every single week and what

we've done when we haven't been able to fit in certain ones or you've emailed us as well we've banked them and we've banked them today to ask a few of them so let's start shall we with a lovely email that we had from Graham Colbeck. He emailed us after that FIFPro interview that we did. If you haven't listened to that pod, go back and download it wherever you get your podcasts, because it was really fascinating. He wants to talk about the expansion of women's football and its environmental impact. And he says, Meryl Van Dongen spoke about flying to games in the context of time pressures on players. We already see English men's teams flying short domestic distances

and the Lionesses flew within England a number of times in the last couple of years. The carbon emissions from flying are far greater than other modes of transport. It feels like clubs recognise this. You can look at sustainability reports from Arsenal and Liverpool or AFC Bournemouth's annual report and accounts as examples. But the men keep flying even within England.

Do we have to see the women's game ape the environmental impact of the men's game? Is it even a feature of anyone's thoughts in the women's game? Will Newco have anything concrete to say about the game's environmental impact? Who wants to take that? It's ridiculous. It just shouldn't be happening. Men's or women's football. But we also

need to see any like proper investment in like transport infrastructure as well which is poor like the traffic on the road is terrible the trains are often terrible and cancelled and ridiculously expensive obviously that's not something that impacts clubs they should be working within all of those remits pretty comfortably but yeah 100 there should be more of a environmental focus on the way clubs and the league run. You know, these big away international pre-season friendlies and stuff aren't a great idea in my opinion as well

from that point of view. Will Nuko have anything concrete to say about it? Probably not, if I'm being totally honest. I don't think they'll interfere in what clubs do travel-wise to games, which would be a shame. I think there's an opportunity there to do something different, but it probably won't. Can I just say a really quick shout for Football for Future,

who are an amazing organisation, doing a lot of campaigning on this work, who are constantly trying to get football to take their environmental impact really seriously. So if you are interested in that, go and check out Football for Future because they're brilliant. Brilliant. Nag has asked,

when we think the WSL and Championship might expand so that we can encourage investment from clubs across the board? Sophie? Yeah, I really hope so. Very, very soon. I wrote it in my Guardian piece for my hopes for next year or the one thing that I think should happen next year. And I think it has to be a priority.

It's not going to happen next season, but I do think it has to be a priority about this expansion of the leagues. I think we're getting a real bottleneck down the pyramid from teams who want to invest more in the game but not getting the reward for it so I think it needs to open up the pathways a bit and to have a bigger league season as well you know we have a Chelsea play a lot of games in the season but then you have someone at the bottom like a West Ham or someone like that who don't play all that much football especially in the second part of the year. So trying to improve that as well, I think, is absolutely vital.

An Everton fan has asked, how can a women's team survive general club chaos not of their making, Solon? It's very difficultly. Difficultly? Is that a word? With great difficulty, that's it. She's still hungover. I haven't slept for a week because we won the league.

You hadn't told us, didn't know. It's really hard. Women's football teams are often the bottom of the pile in the institutional framework of a football club. And that means any chaos at any point in that framework will hit the club unless you have a very strong governance structure that feels separate to the rest of that and kind of guardrails around it you're going to be at the mercy of whatever's going on in the

boardroom for the whole club and unfortunately you're probably the first thing to be seen where you can cut from as that's what way history has gone. So unless you've got great owners and great infrastructure around specifically the women's team and the governance of it, I find it very difficult to believe that you can be numb to what's going on in your club. So I'm really sorry, Everton fans.

Yeah, difficult times. Tessa Stephens from Melbourne slash Narm on email said, G'day! Following up from the World Cup in Australia, do you think Tilly's fever impacted this season of the WSL in terms of players being selected or expat ticket sales? If so, which Aussie was the standout in your opinion? Love the pod.

Thank you, Tessa. Susie? I don't think it affected selection because I don't think a manager would be ever swayed by the hype around a player in choosing their side. Expat excels quite possibly you know there's a big Australian population in London when they played their friendly here against I want to say Scotland I may be making that up entirely there was a really really massive Australian crowd. Standout Aussies. Katrina Gorey has been phenomenal for me.

Like, absolutely brilliant. Obviously, I love all of the Arsenal ones from a selfish point of view, but for me, Katrina Gorey has been the standout Aussie in the league this season. Thank you for that question, Tessa. Brilliant stuff. A question from Leila on X.

It's expected that a number of men will leave for the highly lucrative Saudi League this summer. After Ashley Plumptree's departure from the WSL last year, do you think this is going to pave the way for more women to make the hop to the Middle East in search of better paid football salon? If there is a league and a club that is going to pay you well for your labour and your work and put you up and treat you like an athlete that maybe the tiers of this game in this country haven't done in the past and you have an opportunity to go

they are going to choose to go because they're going to get paid more money for the same labour that they would have here and I think that's a really capitalist argument as to why but you can see loads of young players who as the game gets more and tight and more competitive here aren't going to be able to get into the top tiers and play at the highest possible level then they're going to be tempted absolutely and I don't necessarily blame them for that temptation when they perhaps haven't been remunerated as they should have been for the same labor that they could get elsewhere I have obviously lots of opinions on Saudi football league and sports washing and all that sort of stuff but I would never blame an individual for making

that choice in a women's game where they have not been treated as they possibly could have been in the past. Brilliant, good answer to that. Listen, Natalie asks on X and I think this is an important one in terms of journalists and our role and what we do. Are you not offended when Mark Skinner says you don't know football and you only watch highlights and then says I'd rather talk football than scandal? If your answer is yes, why don't you challenge him more? Soph? Yes, I am offended. I always get offended when managers say those kind of things. I think it has been particularly something that Skinner has used in the latter part of the season when there's been massive questions over him and his role and his future at the club and whether he's actually done a good job this season. I think that one came up specifically after they lost 6-0 to Chelsea which quite frankly is an embarrassment and you don't really have a place to kind of put that to journalists in that place I do think

there sometimes is a lack of talk about football I do kind of agree in that and I wish it was more but I can only say this from a personal point of view on a Monday I go home and I watch all of the games from the weekend that I've missed and I make sure that I catch up so I can quite honestly say I've seen probably 80% of Manchester United's game this season and that hasn't convinced me that there's a particular style going on or progress going on within that team in the question of why don't you challenge it more it's really really hard in press conferences to do that I would say and I don't know if the others agree I mean you're kind of being put on the spot right in front of cameras and a whole cohort of other people and it's not really the place to challenge it but

we do talk about it with each other afterwards and I do think we could maybe challenge it more on public networks because I think it's a defence mechanism that I've seen from not just Mark Skinner this season naturally Emma Hayes as well has done it and blamed kind of the media collective or put a lot in the media collective in terms of trying to divert attention away from some things that are happening in their own teams so it does annoy me massively I don't know what we can do about it though. Of course offended when he When he says, oh, you don't know football, you only watch the highlights because that's obviously a load of rubbish.

But he looks stupid for saying it, right? Like we're professionals and I think it's a really, really silly manager that undermines the professionalism of journalists in the room. We work incredibly hard to cover this game. A lot of us, you know, kind of one or two people

covering the entirety of the league from top to bottom. You know, on on the men's side you've got a journalist covering one or two clubs you know we're covering everything we've got to have our finger in a lot of pies and i think it's a really really stupid manager that undermines the professional integrity of journalists in the room that are writing about them i think that's a big big mistake i've been a big advocate of mark skinner as a manager and as a person for quite some time and I you know I think it's a really silly thing to do particularly after a big defeat where if you want to talk about the football let's talk about the football and how bad that was there's a complete contrast in the way that Robert Villaham talked about the press in his final press conference where he said that compared to the

media in Sweden where he came from last year the fact that we are all in press conferences every week writing stories asking questions asking difficult questions I thought that was actually a good counterpoint to say that there are managers who do shout out and do recognize that there is hard work going on across the league it's not just the media pool it's across the league right it's not just the media pool, it's across the league, right? It's everyone kind of binding together to make it successful and that's what we want for this game. Yep, it's really, really vital

that everyone works together. A few items of news to finish on. Thank you for all your questions, by the way. They were absolutely fantastic and if you want to, you can keep having your say by sending in your questions via X or emailing us at

womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com. As I said before, we do always read every single one, bank them for future pods if we can't answer them on that pod as well. So keep sending them in. They are much, much appreciated. A few items of news to finish on. Arsenal fans and Susie as well, I'm sure,

will be delighted to hear that Leah Williamson has signed a new contract. The Gunners vice-captain has been at the club for 19 years. She's made 232 appearances and scored 15 goals. I thought it was really lovely how she announced that on Twitter as well, talking about it as a family because she's grown up as an Arsenal fan. Meanwhile, departure up in the north-west. Esme Morgan is set to leave Manchester City, dependent on international clearance. She was an academy product, don't forget,

and made her senior debut at just the age of 16. But she's going to be heading to pastures new, reported to be the NWSL. And finally, massive congratulations to Jo Potter and to Rangers on winning the Scottish Cup for the first time in their history. It was a 2-0 victory for them over Hearts at Hampden Park, meaning they seal the cup double, having won the League Cup earlier on this season.

A fantastic season for them. Listen, it's been a pleasure to have you all with us today. Salon, see you soon. Go and get some much-needed sleep. I will. I'll get some sleep and I'll get my voice back. Soph, I look forward to hearing where the next trip is. Well, of course, it's over to France. Saint-Étienne. Newcastle, the northeast first and then Saint-Étienne. But yes, lots of adventures to come. Yes. Well, Newcastle is not quite Saint-Étienne in terms of like a little

mini break. However, it is great fun up in the northeast. Susie Rack, I miss you. I miss you too. I'm not going to see SGP today. I know. Well, I have to switch into men's Euros mode very soon. So I'm trying to take a bit of a rest. But I am covering the game on Friday. I'm very much looking forward to it as well. Just to let you know, we are taking a little bit of a mini break ourselves here on the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. But we will be back very, very soon. More on that later.

But as I said before, keep having your say. Send in your questions via X. Email us at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com. And as ever, you know, a reminder for you to sign up for our bi-weekly women's football newsletter. You just need to search Moving the Goalposts. Sign up. And in Tuesday's edition, Raphael Jacobin looks at the Sammy team in the Conifert World Cup. And in Thursday's edition, Megan Swanick sits down with NWSL and USA star Trinity Rodman.

So don't miss those. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Ned Carter-Miles. Music composition was by Laura Iredale. Our executive producer is Salah Ahmad. Women's Football Weekly is supported by Google Pixel. With its incredible camera and AI-powered technology, Google Pixel is bringing fans closer to the game this summer. Search Google Store to find out more.

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