Having played in Spain for the previous two seasons, Bronze is usually preparing to travel back to England to celebrate with her family at this time of year.

But, having moved to Chelsea this summer, her journey back home will thankfully be much shorter this year.

‘It’s funny because our last game was against Real Madrid in Spain and then we came back to England, so I am used to doing that journey,’ Bronze said. ‘When I was playing abroad, it’s always been the pressure of my time when I do come home.

‘You don’t have much time off during the season, so you want to use it to relax but being away from home I don’t get to see my family a lot, so there is the stress of balancing that.

‘My family are very understanding and they gave up a lot of their time, but it’s nice to be closer to them this year. It’s been easier to see them a lot more during the season and they appreciate that.

‘Me and my mum were chatting the other day and she was saying Brighton in December was the first Chelsea home game they hadn’t been to. They can come to so many more games and see me more throughout the whole year.’

When Bronze returns home for Christmas, there will be some familiar activities on the festive agenda, including one befitting for a high-level athlete such as our full-back.

‘I don’t know if it’s my favourite tradition, but my family always does a 5k park run on the morning of Christmas or Christmas Eve,’ Bronze jokes. ‘Actually, I don’t mind it!

‘One year, my sister dressed up as a penguin and then my brother was training for a marathon and I managed to beat him in the 5k, so I quite liked that.

‘I enjoy it because we all do it. My dad does it, my mum joins in and walks a bit, and my little nephew tries to join in. We’re all involved. We’re quite a competitive and active family, so it’s a good tradition for us.

‘There are always some sort of games. At the minute, we’ve got an accent game which is quite funny because my dad’s Portuguese so he struggles with all the accents from around the UK.’

Being half Portuguese, Bronze used to spend the holidays in her dad’s homeland, and even if they won’t be there this year, there will still be a bit of Portugal on the dinner table.

‘When we were younger, we would go to Portugal for Christmas,’ Bronze said. ‘We still have Portuguese food. My dad normally goes back at some point in December so he brings food home.

‘He will pick up presents from our family across there and bring bits of food across. He likes chocolate-covered almonds – they are his favourite Portuguese treat.

‘I like these little marzipan cakes that look like fruit. When I was younger, I think I liked the way they looked because they were all bright colours and tasted just like sugar. I always get them at Christmas.’

Bronze spent three years in France with Lyon and two in Spain with Barcelona. It is not just five Champions League titles and many domestic trophies the defender has to show for her time playing abroad. She also picked up some festive traditions.

‘Me and Keish (Buchanan) were saying to Sonia that there is a thing in France which isn’t at Christmas, but a little bit after in January,’ Bronze said. ‘It’s a galette – a big almond pie – sliced up and then one piece of the pie has a king or queen in it and whoever gets that is the boss for the day. We told Sonia we needed to do that.

‘In Spain, it’s on New Year, they do a countdown to New Year’s where they put one grape in their mouth per second. It’s also a Catalan tradition to wear red underwear – it’s meant to bring you luck for the coming year.’

You can hear more about the different Christmas traditions in our dressing rooms in the Christmas Advent series piece due to be published on December 24.