Wales captain Sophie Ingle believes that Sunday’s Champions League final between Chelsea and Barcelona shows the increased competition between top the sides in women’s football.
Chelsea reached their first final two weeks ago, knocking out Bayer Munich 5-3 on aggregate.
“It’s a big week for us, we are looking forward to it, to be in the final with Chelsea is amazing,” Ingle told BBC Wales.
“It’s a big shock Lyon aren’t in the final, but it just shows there are great teams all around now.
Olympique Lyon have won the past five finals including one at the Cardiff City Stadium.
This season PSG put a stop to their dominance, knocking them out in the quarter finals on away goals.
“It is not just your Lyons anymore,” Ingle adds. “There are a lot of teams pushing for trophies every year, which is really good,” said Wales international Ingle.
This is probably my biggest game, in club football you can’t win anything bigger. Everyone always dreams of being in the final, it is an amazing achievement to get there, but we know the job is not done.”
Ingle does have previous success in this competition against Barcelona.
She was a part of the Bristol Academy side that knocked out Barcelona in 2014/15.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’EcUrXyj9TElttFJ7-89Bfw’,sig:’gcmiXU7c87oKeb9NuP–VqieaKBI-6Dq4-btMVj0L8o=’,w:’594px’,h:’378px’,items:’458918652′,caption: true ,tld:’co.uk’,is360: false })});A win in Gothenburg would see Chelsea complete the treble.
They wrapped up the WSL title on the final day of the season with a 5-0 victory over Reading.
The league title added to their 6-0 Conti Cup final win over Bristol City victory in March. With the FA cup having been delayed Chelsea also stand a chance of completing the quadruple.
“When we won the league last year, everyone wants to beat the winners, don’t they? That’s sport. It was always going to be a tough season.
“It’s a really quick turnaround from winning the league and having a little celebration of singing in the changing room and whatnot, knowing in the back of your head you’ve got a Champions League final a week later.
“That’s the hard thing sometimes, you can’t enjoy the moment as much as you’d like because there is another game coming up that’s just as important.
“But to finally get that win on Sunday and get the trophy back from last season feels really good.”
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