Johanna Rytting Kaneryd says there is a nice feeling in the group as Chelsea Women prepare to face Real Madrid on matchday four in the UEFA Women’s Champions League on Thursday evening.
The Blues head to the Spanish capital brimming with confidence, having scored eight goals without reply against Leicester City in the Women’s Super League on Saturday, extending our winning run to 11 matches in all competitions.
We make the journey to the Spanish capital with our 100 per cent record in Europe intact having overcome Paris Saint-Germain, Albanian champions Vllaznia and then Real Madrid in our first three games, scoring 11 goals without reply to build a five-point lead at the top of Group A.
A fortnight ago, we hosted our Spanish opposition in the reverse fixture under the lights at Kingsmeadow. Second-half goals from Sophie Ingle and Erin Cuthbert secured a hard-fought three points which moved us one step nearer to qualification for the knockout stages.
With three group games left to navigate, Swedish winger Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, who has featured in each of our European matches with two starts and one substitute appearance, described an air of positivity around the squad and the key role this has played in our good run of form.
‘We have a really nice feeling in the group. Even though in the Real Madrid game we didn’t score a goal until the second half, it feels like we are not stressed about it. We have such a belief in what we can do, and what we are doing, and that’s a really nice feeling to know that.
‘We have great players and everyone knows what we’re doing and how we’re going to attack and defend. So yeah, it’s that feeling of not being stressed and just believing.’
Our previous trip abroad took us to Paris to face PSG back in October and we left the French capital with all three points on that occasion. Rytting Kaneryd talked about embracing the challenge each game poses and how previous results can help to breed confidence for the trip to Spain.
‘I feel this group has a lot of confidence, in a good way. We’re going into every game accepting the challenge, taking every game for what it is, so Madrid is another game, away this time, but it’s a challenge.
‘It’s really good having those good results behind us, but we want to win every game and hopefully we’ll be able to do that against Madrid.’