Charlton promoted and Barcelona reclaim European crown: Women’s Football Weekly

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:14Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to The Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So Charlton will be playing in the Barclays WSL next season after a penalty shootout playoff win over Leicester. Barcelona have regained their Champions League crown with a dominant win against Lyon. And Bunny Shaw befuddled us all, confirming at Manchester City's sunny trophy parade that she's staying in sky blue. All that to discuss, plus we'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly.

0:48What a panel we have today. Good morning, Sophie Downey.

0:51Emma Sanders:Good morning. Last minute recruits, so I'm fresh and ready to go. I am Susie Rack today. Susie Rack has hit that end of season lull where everybody gets sick and she is feeling under the weather this morning and sends her apologies and we send her love. Her love? No, we send our love. One love. All the songs. Too early. Emma Sanders, how are you? I've not drunk rum, I promise. It's definitely too early. I'm okay. I just, I don't do well in the heat, so I feel like I'm melting inch by inch. I have that. Is it from the Wizard of Oz? I'm melting. I'm melting. That literally is playing a repeat in my head.

1:30Ayesha Galati, listen, you saved me the other week with those amazing hay fever tablets. Thank you for that. But you are also feeling under the weather now and it's not hay fever. I am. Yeah, I've got a bit of a cold, which feels like a crazy thing to say when it is so hot. But yeah, it's that end of season where you just sort of relax and it all hits you at once. So I'm all good, ready to be here and excited to see you guys this morning. We're the walking wounded on the pod today, but don't you worry, we'll get through it. Bunny Shaw has none of that end of season cold, I feel poorly hitting her.

2:09She is back and ready to go because the big news that we had confirmed yesterday, as in on Sunday, Bunny Shaw has signed a new long-term contract with Manchester City. It was a four-year deal announced in style in front of thousands of fans at the City Trophy Parade last night as well. And the news, Emma, that everyone's been waiting for if you have a sky blue shirt. Were the Chelsea Lynx a ruse? Was this ever really in doubt? Did they just try to, you know, pull the wool over all of our eyes? I mean it was definitely huge huge news I think for the City fans wasn't it certainly from from my information the Chelsea rumours were you know they were definitely true I've been told it was within the last 24 hours that that Shaw signed the new deal so very much a case of Manchester City offering a new sort of deal contract on the table late on it's obviously a saga that's been going on for so long you know back in December I remember asking Andre Jaglitz about her contractual situation and and he said he was you know hopeful that that she would sign throughout January we reported that she was close to signing a new deal they were in advanced talks in March reported by Tom at the Guardian and then you know you sort of get to close to the summer they've just been crowned WSL champions and we're all under the impression that that she's leaving and obviously Bunny as far as we know had kind of said look this is what I want this is what I think I'm worth this is the contract length I want and from her side certainly from our information she didn't think she was getting you know the type of contract or the type of deal that that she wanted so for Man City to manage to turn that around I think you know well done to everyone involved in the board did it take too long absolutely you know they should have got this sorted ages ago but look it's done now she's staying it's what she always wanted it's what the club always wanted I think the only people that are unhappy will be the Chelsea fans because you know they need a striker and is the best one in the world in my opinion so yeah huge for Manchester City.

4:18Emma Sanders:This is a moment that I feel very proud of myself because I walked into a pub after the final game of the season and I think Ayesha was there as well and said she's staying and obviously you can never be sure because nothing was decided in that moment in time. But I did a broadcast interview with her afterwards, with her and Alex Greenwood, and I just had a feeling that it wasn't quite done yet or quite as wrapped up with Chelsea yet. She still had a couple of cards, or City had a couple of cards left to play. She had that kind of smile on her face that she wasn't quite ready to go. And I think she said in her Sky interview afterwards, Manchester is my home.

4:52Emma Sanders:And I think she said that in a couple of interviews since at the FWAs as well. So yeah, it's the one time I can properly say I was right. You bucked the trend. Not that we're wrong on this pod. Our predictions are wrong. And that would not count as a prediction, I don't think. And also from Bunny Shaw's point of view, they've got Champions League football next season, which she's desperate to play in. They are WSL champions. And Chelsea are going to have to go through qualifying in Champions League. It's a no-brainer. And for Manchester City, a no-brainer. Additionally, why on earth would you want to let your top scorer, your golden girl, go to a rival?

5:35Absolute madness. Not happening. So Manchester City keep Bunny Shaw. And Charlton will be one of their opponents next season because they have been promoted to the Barclays WSL in dramatic circumstances. Karen Hillside made history booking their spot in the top flight of English football with a shootout win over Leicester City. It was a goalless 120 minutes. There was one disallowed goal, but the Addicts eventually came through 2-1 on penalties, thanks to some goalkeeping heroics from Sophie Whitehouse. We are going to delve into the game in a second. But firstly, Sophie and I caught up with Charlton's Lucia Lobato.

6:13Lucia, thank you so much for being with us. Congratulations. I can imagine it's been a bit of a crazy few days for you. Oh, my God. It's been madness. I'm still in shock. I still can't believe it. Sometimes I just zone out throughout the day and I start laughing to myself because I think, what have we done? How do you, I mean, I know sometimes it takes time and it might not be until next week or even the start of the season until you realise what you have done. But with the kind of time that you've had, how have you reflected on it? Oh, wow. I think I've just been reflecting and reliving the moments of the game and those special moments, like all the way to penalties.

6:57We did make it really difficult for ourselves, but it was a drama. We loved the drama at the end of the day. So it's just been amazing.

7:07Emma Sanders:When you think back to Saturday and kind of the emotions going into the game, how did you prepare for it as a squad after the disappointment of the final day of the season? Yeah, that's a great question. I think a lot of us felt like a weight was off our shoulders. At this point, we had nothing to lose. We had everything to lose and nothing to lose at the same time. But we came in as underdogs, and I think that really suited us throughout the season. Whenever we played a bigger opponent, we've always done really, really well when it came to the WSL clubs. so I think a lot of us were excited and ready after like a week of processing what happened at the Valley against Birmingham we were all ready to go again and we showed it then there on Saturday I tell you what I was watching watching it at home and it was hot enough set on the sofa I can't even imagine what it was like on on the pitch you were missing a few players as well where did you and the team find that kind of mental resolve from to just keep going especially when you knew you had another half an hour to play and then potentially penalties if you didn't get a goal then?

8:16Yeah I think that meant a resilience we've been building all season and then because of the scorching hot that day a lot of us were saying girls this is easier than the pit and the pit was something we did in pre-season on our pre-season tour in Spain and it was a day of conditioning and we had training in the morning and then we were conditioning kind of in the afternoon evening and it was roasting hot we were just running non-stop and that was really difficult and girls like girls the pit was harder than this and to be honest I didn't even feel the heat I had sun cream on my face and I replied at half time I was ready to go I didn't feel the heat I was just sweating loads but I didn't feel it I guess in those moments you just have that kind

9:01Emma Sanders:of different mentality to be able to focus on the different things and just and just go through and run through brick walls I guess to to get to what you want to do yeah I think it was all that adrenaline in terms of yourself you have you had a disallowed goal um when I know when you nodded over off the brilliant save from Katie Keene um kind of what were your feelings in that moment because when you have you know have that opportunity and um obviously the offside flag goes up and then it's just not quite going your way? Yeah, first of all, I couldn't believe I scored and then I couldn't believe it was called offside.

9:37I was like, what is happening? And then when I look back at it, I probably was like marginally offside, but it was those fine margins. We knew those fine margins were going to be the difference and thankfully then Soph pulled it out of the bag for us. But yeah, an amazing feeling, but then for it to all be taken away, maybe that gave us a little bit of a spur on like we can get the ball in the back of the net and we just we continued to defend well and to try and keep the momentum on our side You said Sophie pulled it out of the bag for you she had such an incredible game Sophie Whitehouse she was amazing and especially in those conditions you need to be like somebody to pull a performance like that Absolutely and she does that every day in training as well there's always some big save and a huge reaction from well myself because I can't hide my emotions when I'm playing so it'd be like oh my god like hands on the head or just like how have you done that and yeah so it's just amazing amazing pair yeah I'll tell you someone else who's amazing whose career I've I've watched closely for a number of years and it's uh it's your manager Karen Hills she's built such a legacy with the club both as a player and and as a manager but what is it like to play under her?

10:57Oh wow, huge inspiration. Even the fact that she was an FA Cup winner with Charlton. Oh my God, that's inspirational on its own. So now that she's our manager, it was huge, even little nuggets of information throughout the day. And because she was a centre-back and I'm a centre-back, sometimes that information is so invaluable. and I really appreciate that throughout the season.

11:25Emma Sanders:And in terms of the fans as well at the Valley, it was a record crowd, I think, and they really came out and showed up for you. It was really fun. I was down pitch side during the game and it was just like a cauldron of heat but also noise as well. And especially at the end when, I guess, your family get to come on the pitch and everyone came on and celebrated. What was that like to be there in front of them and how much have they supported you this season? it meant so so much and I'm just so happy we were able to to get a win in front of them because the past couple of weeks and maybe the past month it wasn't great at the Valley you know with the disappointment of Birmingham after there was a record crowd for that game I was just so happy with the new record crowd we were able to show them something at the Valley give them something and because they were immense for us throughout the whole season to get promoted.

12:21It's as much as their promotion as it is ours. So I was just delighted we could do that for them. Just finally, and we're going to talk about this on the pod very shortly as well. And it's difficult to ask you this, bearing in mind it's only just happened. But what do you feel the club needs to do over the summer to get yourselves ready for WSL football? Because it is a big jump. Investment, huge investment. because you see as soon as the club goes up, they almost go down quicker again. And I think retention would be like the realistic goal for next season. And I think investment is needed, huge investment.

13:02So hopefully we can get that. Big challenge, but we're excited. Big challenge, but really exciting. You've got all the commercial opportunities leading into the season to look forward to, the training, everything. like honestly you're going to have such a ball I look forward to catching up with you perhaps before the season kicks off next time round when you are a WSL player oh my god it's crazy it's madness still not sinking in listen go and rest that voice and enjoy the summer as well I will thanks a million thank you so much brilliant Lucia Lubato there you can always tell when a player's been celebrating.

13:48Her voice definitely has been someone who's been on the karaoke machine. I probably should have asked her that, actually, if she'd been on the karaoke machine. But I love speaking to players when they've just achieved something monumental in their careers. It's brilliant. Emma, you were at the Valley on Saturday. What did you make of the occasion? Did the game play out as you expected it to? Yeah, I really enjoyed it. You know, I think I'm a big fan of the playoff tie. The game itself, I think there were periods where the heat was horrendous. So I do think it wasn't the best of the two teams. The quality probably was a little bit low.

14:23End of the season, everyone's exhausted. Everyone's nervous because no one wants to make that error that means that they lose that crucial game. But look, a club record crowd from Charlton. And I think it did play out the way I would have expected. You've got the side with the best defensive record in WSL2 coming up against a side who has scored 11 goals in the entire season in the WSL 1. So I was never expecting a 5-0 thriller, put it that way. But yeah, I enjoyed it. I thought Charlton did themselves proud. Certainly in the first half, I think they controlled and dominated most of the first half.

15:00They probably created some of the better chances. Leicester obviously had a couple of big ones as well. but Sophie Whitehouse I mean she was incredible in goal for Charlton and that for me was a real highlight because you know when you she came into the media room afterwards and she was glowing and just she couldn't get her words out she was so so excited she had a bottle of champagne with her and some glittery hot sunglasses and it was just such a vibe and I thought you know what this this is what it's all about and to see Charlton have this incredible season you worried that they might of, you know, just missed out having been top for so long.

15:38So to finally get over the line, just an incredible story. And Karen Hill is obviously an incredible manager that's returning to the WSL as well. So I loved it. I had a great day. Yeah, well, you don't support Leicester, so I'm not surprised. We'll talk about them in a second, but let's pour more love on Sophie Whitehouse, Aisha, because she made a couple of key saves in the game, those four penalty saves in the shootout as well. What a performance on the day. Yeah, incredible. I mean, definitely, as Emma said, they're the highlight of that game. They hadn't played a game in 21 days, which I think people were sort of a bit concerned about in terms of putting them on the back foot a little bit.

16:17Of course, they ended up playing that game at home. But yeah, Sophie Whitehouse was just as on it as she has been all season. She was a big part about why Charlton had led that league for a long time. But of course, the end of their season didn't go to plan. But she had eight clean sheets in the season. She won the Golden Glove and she was rightly celebrated at the WSL Awards that we were at the other week. And I was able to speak to her that day as well, actually. And like Emma said, she's such a great character, you know, super humble, didn't want to throw loads of celebration on her particular performance.

16:53It was all about the team, even though she just had her saves just shown on the big screen. And yeah, I was asking how she was feeling ahead of that playoff, actually, because of the lack of game time, I guess, in that build up. And she was just, yeah, you know, all season, Karen Hills has said it's a marathon, not a sprint. This is the last mile. We want to go there. We want to be history makers. Yeah, we want to finish on a high. We deserve that. And they did just that. They made history. And yeah, huge, huge praise for her for false penalty saves. It's an incredible thing for her to do. Hopefully that gives her so much confidence going in to the WSL.

17:34And yeah, maybe some tactical genius by Karen Hills playing for penalties, knowing you've got the best keeper. Who knows? But yeah, she was great. Yeah. And looking forward to seeing a lot more of Sophie Whitehouse next season. Leicester did edge it in terms of the stats Soph but just couldn't put their chances away Rick Parsmore said when we got in and around the box did we work the goalkeeper enough? Probably not I think it's just those moments those differences which feels like a bit of a microcosm of their season overall really were you surprised by the amount of experience he left out of his starting XI?

18:10Emma Sanders:I was yeah I think to not start for me especially Ashley Neville I think when she came on she added so much to the game and an injection of grit and crossing ability down from fullback. And I was surprised that he left her and Emily van Egmond in particular on the bench to start with because I think you bring on your younger players maybe from the bench to have that impact. Maybe I get Rachel Williams a bit more because she is that kind of impact player and she's shown that before at Manchester United, what she can do as a sub off the bench. But I was a bit surprised by starting XI. I think they were just so low on confidence and that was going to be the battle on the day.

18:49Emma Sanders:Both teams coming into this with not a lot of confidence. I think the three weeks that Charlton had actually worked in their favour, I thought it would be the other way around because I thought playing games would do more for Leicester. But I think they had time to go away, reflect. I think Karen Hill said in her post-match quite expressively what they did. They sent the players away. They were allowed to go home. They were allowed to cry. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted to get over. the kind of frustration of not one but two opportunities going fallen by the wayside and they came back determined not to let the third one disappear on them and I think it was just that mental side of them I'm glad Emma really enjoyed herself I maybe enjoyed myself a little less but I was sat pitch side in the searing heat I could not escape it so I was burnt to a crisp by the end of the day and that's probably had a little bit of my reflection on the game very selfish reflection all you were doing was turning yourself a shade of charlton red that's all you were doing yeah karen hills was um very aware post-match of the step up to the wsl she said i'm excited nervous apprehensive because i've done i've been there and done it before and it's tough and uh you'll remember she was manager of uh or co-manager actually of Spurs for a long time, got them promoted up to the WSL, spent two seasons there.

20:12She was Spurs' boss for about 10, 11 years, I think. Lucia mentioned investment in terms of Charlton, Emma. What have they got to focus on to compete in the WSL? Where does that investment go? I think the obvious thing is they need to be able to score goals. It was really interesting hearing both her and Sophie Whitehouse sort of talking a little bit about what they needed to do for the WSL in their post-match press conference. And they were saying that they've got the foundations. And I agree with this in terms of that defensive solidity. You know, they've got a core there. They've got obviously a very strong goalkeeper.

20:48And then they've got fantastic organisation. And they've already kind of got a culture within the squad, which means they'll all work for each other. And they're all kind of confident in their own abilities. But when you go up to the WSL, you have to be able to create chances and I'd love to see them maybe get more of a counter-attacking threat and build on what they have there in terms of that defensive solidity because if they can hold off teams for an hour and then maybe try and hit them on the break towards the end of games I think that might get them a few points and I think you know the other thing is maybe adding people who have got that experience and that I suppose that winning mentality as well because it's all winning good winning games in WSL 2 or going unbeaten in WSL 2 but as Rick Passmore said in terms of Leicester you can very very quickly get into a spiral in in the WSL where you lose five six seven games on the bounce and I do worry for you know for any newly promoted team but certainly Charlton who haven't got the budgets who haven't got the ability to go out and and suddenly buy five or six players that are WSL standard you know I just hope that they don't get knocked and their momentum is sort of killed a little bit early on.

22:00So you need characters in there who can sort of, you know, make sure the squad still stay confident and stay on track. So winning mentality, characters in the dressing room and some goal scorers that can maybe play on the counter-attack. Yeah, good advice. Sanders for manager of the season. What's next for Leicester? So they've been hanging on to their WSL status for a number of years now. How concerned are you for their future? We spoke about it last week in terms of the relegation, the double relegation of the men's team. What do we fear for them?

22:38Emma Sanders:I am concerned. I have to say that. I think Rick Passmore in post-match kept going on about meetings and reflection and all of that. And yes, that has to happen anyway. You would think that would happen. but I just there is going to be a rebuild that has to happen and there has to be money and the club have to step in and invest in it the WSL 2 is no joke we know that these days you're going to have to invest to survive in it and the club really need to decide what they want to do and how they're going to approach that kind of rebuild because they'll obviously lose a few players I think a few of the WSL standard players will probably go elsewhere especially to with three being promoted.

23:19Emma Sanders:And yeah, I think there is a general worry around the whole club at the moment with the relegation of the men's team. The money isn't there at all. So what are they going to do? And it's going to be an interesting one to watch, I think, over the summer going forward, what decisions are made about all across the shop in terms of how they progress and go forward. We've had an email in from Graham Colbeck at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com. Hi, Faye, Susie, Sophie and everyone else. so glad to see that the pod's reputation for terrible predictions has reached the end of the season with a final flourish.

23:53Yes, we all thought that Leicester would win and retain their Barclays WSL place. Commiserations to Leicester, he says, and congrats to Charlton and especially to Sophie Whitehouse in goal with amazing work. Another London club in the WSL. Come on, Capital, share the love with the rest of the country. And can we keep the playoffs, please? See you all next season. Can we keep the playoffs, Aisha? This was the first ever playoff. Next year, we'll see 13th in the WSL, face second in the WSL 2. What did you make of the occasion as a whole? Did it live up to the billing? Yes, so I was in Oslo for the Champions League final at the weekend, but it was sort of good timing in that I was able to watch quite a bit of it from my hotel room, all thanks to the WSL YouTube channel.

24:40So shout out to that. I was so excited. I think a playoff is just the most exciting way to end the season. We've seen it in the EFL for so many seasons now and it really is a highlight of those fans' years. I would say maybe that caginess and tension didn't translate totally on telly. It wasn't the most enthralling fixture to watch 120 minutes of no goals in Oslo. but yeah I mean what an occasion so much to play for for both of those teams and I'm really glad that this playoff is staying actually because I think it just gives so many more teams something to aim for something to fight for and we've seen two years ago when Palace came up that was a really tight title race the last year London City and Birmingham City is so tight and again this year You know, those three teams fighting for, well, this year it was three places, but, you know, just giving those teams something to keep fighting for till the end of the season.

25:45I think that's only going to increase the quality of the WSL 2, knowing that there's two spots available. Also, the WSL teams make sure they're not resting on their laurels. We've spoken about that in so many seasons that those bottom few teams, they kind of just get and they realise they've got enough points because this season, you know, Leicester slipping away and then it's kind of done and dusted. So, yeah, I think it's really important to keep that competitiveness and give more, you know, carrots dangled for those teams to keep pushing. And the occasion, like we mentioned, a record crowd at the Valley, almost 4 ,000.

26:23So that's great, too. these fans clearly understood exactly what it meant and great that Charlton were able to get it over the line on this occasion. Is there an argument with so much at stake and I understand the waiting in terms of the WSL two side are the underdog and so getting home advantage helps but is there an argument actually that a neutral venue for such a big game with the money at stake etc. nowadays is preferable. You're nodding Emma. Yeah I totally agree. I think any you look if you're playing for a trophy you're playing in a neutral venue this is arguably even bigger for a club like Leicester as we've discussed financially the the status of WSL compared to WSL 2 is is absolutely remarkably significant.

27:10It had to be in a neutral venue for me especially as we've already mentioned by our very good listener, that there's so many London clubs now, and particularly for the Northern teams, obviously Leicester in the Midlands, that's a lot of travelling to do throughout the season. So I think to ask them to go down to the valley, I think that was quite harsh on Leicester. Might make it more of an occasion as well. And by the way, I can totally understand why they would do it. I understand all those reasons, but I think if we're going to make it thing, then it needs to be a neutral venue. Anyway, another thing to add to the list.

27:53That's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. In part two, we'll take a look at the Champions League final as Barcelona were crowned champions once again.

28:11Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So Barcelona reclaimed their title as Queens of Europe with their fourth Champions League crown in Oslo on Saturday afternoon. Père Rommé's side put four past Lyon to no reply thanks to braces from Eva Payor and Salma Paraluelo. How did Barcelona dismantle Lyon, Soph? It was that juggernaut coming down. It had moments of that Chelsea demolition a few years ago.