Manchester United boss Marc Skinner believes clinching a first Champions League berth will give his club unprecedented sway when it comes to summer recruitment.
United owner Avram Glazer was in attendance at Wembley on Sunday to watch the women’s side in their first FA Cup final against Chelsea and a determined performance might have inspired him to break out the chequebook despite a 1-0 loss.
Women’s Super League leaders United still have a crack at the title and would seal a European spot by avoiding defeat against fourth-placed Manchester City on Sunday.
“We’re in a growing phase,” said Skinner. “We are growing and we are investing, but the experience that Chelsea have, the investment they’ve put in over years and years and years is a factor as to why they win.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that, but I feel that we are bridging gaps even as we don’t spend their type of budget, but I think we’re bridging gaps and I think we can show a sustainable way of doing it, but we need to keep getting the best players, and we need to keep being in the pool for the best players.
“The last two games will go a long way to helping us do that if we can get into the Champions League. This is the club that you want to come to if you’re a top talent. This is a club that’s going places, and if you’re out there and you want to come into here I’m sure you can get my number pretty quickly.”
The current iteration of United’s women’s side was launched five years ago and earned promotion to the top flight at the end of their debut season in 2018-19.
In contrast, opponents Chelsea – who won a third straight FA Cup and fifth in nine years – have been affiliated with the wider Chelsea Football Club since 2004.
Boss Emma Hayes has enjoyed such a long and fruitful spell at Stamford Bridge since her 2012 appointment that Frank Lampard is the 11th different men’s manager to have served during her tenure.
During that time, she has led Chelsea to a dynastic five FA Cups and the same number of Women’s Super League titles alongside becoming a mum and award-winning pundit.
She said: “When I sit at home alone and think about the work we do every day and the sacrifices we all make I know I’ve given my life to it. My little boy probably wants to see a bit more of me because I can’t manage more than this and that.
“But what I know is that in elite performance you can’t have work-life balance. It doesn’t exist. So all I know is no matter what, I’ve given everything I can to the team, to the club, to put us in a place that I’m still a f***ing kid in Camden that has had an absolute ride of a time.”
Doncic backs Mbappe to turn fortunes around at Real Madrid
NBA superstar Luka Doncic has backed Kylian Mbappe to "figure it out" after his underwhelming start to life at Real Madrid.
Mbappe has scored eight goals in 16 games for Madrid in all competitions since joining as a free agent following the expiration of his Paris Saint-Germain contract.
He has gone four matches without a goal – a run that includes losses to Barcelona and Milan – and has been left out of France's latest squad.
However, Dallas Mavericks guard Doncic – a Real Madrid supporter due to his previous ties with the sports club – can see Mbappe turning things around.
"Obviously [their season] could be better," Doncic told Managing Madrid after the Mavericks' win over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
"But when you get a guy like Mbappe, it takes some time to get used to it. We'll figure it out."
Mbappe has scored six goals in 11 LaLiga appearances for Madrid but has underperformed his season's expected goals (xG) total by 2.04.
The forward is averaging a goal every 166 minutes in all competitions this term, compared to one every 88 minutes for PSG in his last of seven seasons in Paris.
Madrid thrashed Osasuna 4-0 last time out in the league to return to winning ways but still trail leaders Barcelona by six points.
Asked about his connections with Madrid, former Los Blancos basketball player Doncic said: "I follow Real Madrid every time.
"I grew up there. They taught me everything, so it's a part of my life. You can call it a secondary home.
"I learned a lot of stuff there and, especially, they gave me a way to be here right now [in Dallas]. I always appreciate that 100%."
Madrid return to action after the international break with a trip to Leganes on Sunday.
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
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