Bronze arrived from Barcelona last summer to add further trophy-winning know-how to a squad full of serial winners. That she excelled on the big stage at Pride Park this afternoon was no surprise.

The England international helped Sonia Bompastor's side restrict Man City to a single goal despite heavy pressure for much of the contest, and then played a key role in our winning goal with a battering surge upfield beyond several opponents.

Bronze accepted after the contest – and having lifted the trophy aloft – that the Blues were not at our best across the 90 minutes. But she highlighted the different and important qualities that helped us get over the line.

She said: 'In the modern game, players can neglect defending and their defensive responsibility sometimes, but when Millie Bright is in your team you’re not allowed to get away with that.

'I follow suit and Nat Bjorn has been exceptional all season – I think she gets overlooked sometimes. Then the likes of Sandy (Baltimore), Ash Lawrence, Niamh (Charles), we’re all very focused on our defensive duties.

'And I'm not being funny, we have to play against the likes of LJ (Lauren James) and Mayra Ramirez every day in training, so it's something we pride ourselves on.'

Bronze continued: 'We are trying to develop and have different ways to how we can play and produce. We know Man City like to play, but as a Chelsea team, we know we can play in any conditions, whether it’s a really good pitch or different like today.

'We can play balls in behind and Mayra today had a good chance to make it 2-0 up in the first half because of that. We always want to play more football, but the conditions didn’t really suit that today.’

Today's match was the first of four in succession against City. We face them in Champions League action on Wednesday, in the WSL next weekend, and then play the second leg of our European tie on March 27.

Post-match celebrations will be modest as a result – and Bronze revealed a recovery-focused spa day is planned tomorrow.

She also highlighted the important role every member of the Chelsea squad will have in the games ahead. Everyone is needed.

'Obviously, we had players missing today like Keira (Walsh), Naomi (Girma), Guro (Reiten) and Sam (Kerr), but there are always a number of players who can change the game for us and that is important.

'Even today, players were coming off the bench who added energy and brought something different for us.’

Tickets are still available for our Champions League quarter final second leg tie with Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. You can book your tickets for this must-see game on Thursday 27 March here.