Manchester City striker Khadija Shaw says her side are well prepared as the Cityzens travel to Stockholm to face Hammarby in the UEFA Women’s Champions League on Thursday evening.
Matchday four of the Champions League arrives with added motivation for City, as a win or a draw against Hammarby will be enough to secure them a spot in the quarter-finals.
Star striker Shaw was firm in her belief that the team’s “approach to every game is the same” despite the stakes, adding “we want to win every game”.
City came away with a 2-0 victory over Hammarby at the Joie Stadium last week, thanks to goals from Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino.
Shaw reflected on the physical battle that Hammarby imposed on her at the top of the pitch, noting “for the type of player I am, I expect those challenges and those battles”.
“I enjoy them to be fair,” she added. “I think for me, I just try to do the best that I can at the top end of the pitch to help the team. If they [Hammarby] are focusing on me for those type of reasons, then other players may be free and open in different positions. At the end of the day, it will benefit the team.”
Following the incredible travelling support from the Hammarby fans last week to England, 21,000 tickets have been sold for the upcoming game at Tele2 Arena in Stockholm.
“For us as a group, we’ve been in multiple different positions where we are playing in front of massive crowds,” Shaw admitted. “We have that experience, and I think we are kind of used to it. It’s their home, it’s going to be different of course, but I think we have the quality and experience in our group to handle those type of situations.”
“Even the last game that we played, they brought the crowd and we were talking about it amongst ourselves that the next week is going to be crazy. But we’ve been in this position before and we are just going to go out there and try to do what we always do, which is get the job done”.
City are back on the European stage after failing to qualify for the Champions League last season following a fourth-place finish in the 2022/23 Women’s Super League (WSL) campaign.
The side currently occupy the top spot in their group standings, having beaten reigning Champions Barcelona 2-0 on matchday one. Despite the positive start, Shaw noted the challenge of the tournament is in it’s unpredictability.
“What we takeaway from these games is that we face different types of style of play,” Shaw explained. “In the league, we know what to expect because we watch these teams and we see these games being played. These games, you have to be more detailed in where you want to hurt them and where they could be dangerous. It’s unpredictable more so.”
