Keira Walsh To Follow In Footsteps Of Gary Lineker At Camp Nou

On Thursday evening, the world’s most expensive female player will play at Europe’s biggest sporting arena when Keira Walsh plays her first game for FC Barcelona at the 99,354 capacity Camp Nou in the women’s Champions League. It is “something she has been looking forward to from the start of the season.”

The Player of the Match for the victorious England team the UEFA Women’s Euro final, Walsh earned herself a dream move to the Spanish champions in September with her club Manchester City only acceding to the transfer following several bids culminating with a world-record offer believed to be of €400,000 ($410,000).

So far, Walsh’s appearances for her new club have been at the women’s team home ground, Estadi Johan Cryuff, but as they did last season, Barcelona are playing their women’s Champions League matches at Camp Nou, the club’s main stadium. Walsh and team-mate Lucy Bronze are set to become the first English players to represent FC Barcleona at Camp Nou since legendary men’s striker Gary Lineker who scored 42 league goals for the club between 1986 and 1989.

Walsh reveals that she is yet to learn Catalan and even though club captain Alexia Putellas speaks English, her strong regional accent means she sometimes struggles to get her point across. “I think Alexia told Lucy she doesn’t really understand what I’m saying a lot of the time! Honestly, I think my Manchester accent has been the biggest challenge. Obviously, I don’t speak Spanish or Catalan and I think my accent in English is probably not the easiest to understand. Communicating at the start, it was hard, I’ve had to speak a lot slower and maybe not use so many slang words that I would normally use.”

“I think off the pitch, it’s been fairly easy. The club’s helped, they helped me find an apartment and they’ve helped me settle in really well. On the pitch, it was just the intensity, the aggressiveness. Obviously, everyone’s so technical, so just keeping up with that level and adapting has been a challenge. I’m feeling really happy now, I’m really comfortable and hopefully that will continue.”

A deep-lying midfielder, or a number 6, Walsh explained in detail what is expected of her as a player at Barcelona compared to her time at Manchester City. “It’s similar, but it’s not similar. Obviously a lot of the play goes through the ‘6’ here and it was the same in Manchester. Here, there’s a lot more freedom and a lot more rotations. They put an emphasis on the fact that it’s not just necessarily one person playing in the pivot. I think it’s about the rotations.”

“When I played it in the past, it was kind of just me sitting and being a lot more disciplined, whereas here, I think there’s a lot more freedom. It was a little bit difficult at first, constantly being on the move, the intensity at which you need to show for the ball. It is different from what I’m used to. I think Patri (Guijarro) is probably the best in the world at it so I’ve had a pretty good teacher in terms of having to learn off her and obviously Ingrid (Engen) as well, she’s played here for the last season. They’ve definitely been helping me. Hopefully, I can just keep on improving my performances and the Barça fans can see the best of me now.”

While much of the international recognition in the Barcelona midfield goes to Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatí, Walsh lavished praise on Guijarro. “I’ve played against Patri from the age of 14 or 15. She was always the best player then. For me, I wasn’t surprised about her. If you’re talking about the world’s best midfielders, she’s definitely up there and I don’t think she probably gets enough credit. If you’re looking at the Ballon D’Or, she should definitely be in there. Training with her every day, she does things that I don’t see many players doing. She sees passes that, I’m stood next to her and I don’t even have any pressure, and I can’t see the pass that she’s playing.”

At Camp Nou, Barcelona will face German side FC Bayern Munich which means Walsh will go head-to-head in midfield with her former Manchester City team-mate Georgia Stanway, someone she has known since she was seventeen and studying at St. Bede’s College in the city. “You know what, I don’t think I’ve ever played against her you know,” Walsh admits. “We even played together at Blackburn. So. yeah, this will be the first time I’ve played against her. Obviously you do training, but it’s not the same is it?”

“She’s a great player. We know a lot about each other. I’m sure she knows what to expect from me, I know what to expect from her. So, I’m probably not going to be allowing any shots from her, she likes to shoot a lot! I think it’s exciting for both of us, we’ve both moved clubs and we both wanted to play in the Champions League so I’m looking forward to meeting her and obviously playing at Camp Nou against her, it’s going to be a special occasion.”

When her team-mate Bronze signed for the club, she was allowed to walk on the famous Camp Nou pitch during her official presentation, something that has so far been denied to Walsh. “No I’ve never been before this season. I’ve watched the men play there this season and the atmosphere, just as a fan, is crazy. I think, for me, it’s something I’ve never experienced at a football game before. You know, the passion from the fans – it’s next level. I’ve not been on the pitch yet but yeah, I’m really looking forward to it and obviously really looking forward to the game as well, it’s going to be a special moment for me and Lucy as we’ve not played there yet.”

It’s a special moment that Walsh will not be able to share with her dad, who was instrumental in the young Keira’s interest in the Spanish game. “Unfortunately, he won’t be at the game,” she told me, “he’s got to work. I think he took too much time off at the start when I first moved over here, he was helping me settle in and experienced the culture with me at the start so unfortunately he can’t have any more time off work. I’m not sure my mum would let him! He’ll definitely be watching on TV.”

“As you said, he was massive in me coming here and the decision I made. He’s always made me watch Spanish football, he’s always appreciated it. Obviously City, weren’t so great when I was younger. They didn’t really win many games so he always made me watch Barcelona. Yeah, I think this is probably why it’s such a special feeling for me to be here.”