Lucy Bronze

“We are footballers, so if you've got to play with someone, you've got to play with them. What happens off the pitch, well, you can't get on with everyone you work with.”

“I remember, when I was at Sunderland, we made the FA Cup final and played in front of 20,000 at Derby.”

“I've got a little vegetable patch in my garden. I moved from a city apartment into a house this year and needed something to do outside football.”

“When I went to my first FA Cup final, we had to pack bags in Tesco to raise enough money for a bus to London. Now, I own a house.”

“The players in the England team, the majority of us didn't play more than twice a week until we were 20. The younger girls are training more than that now, so in 10 years' time, when they take over from us, the quality will be so much higher. That's what I'd like to see.”

“I run the most for every team that I play for. That's because I ran so much when I was younger.”

“I'm not scared of snakes, spiders, flying... nothing scares me apart from needles. I just hate them. Which is quite funny because I've had four knee operations, and I've got tattoos, so I've seen a few needles in my time.”

“I don't feel like congratulating myself, because I know there's still a lot of room for improvement.”

“I turned up for my first day training with England Under-19s super excited, and I just happened to bang my knee on the floor, and it just blew up. It turned out that I'd completely snapped it in half.”

“At Lyon, there's 20 other superstars there - I'm not the best player there. I'm not the best player at England.”

“You're not best friends with someone just because you work with them, but you have to be able to at least work together, or there is no point.”

“I've had four knee surgeries in my career. I just don't do small injuries. The highs of winning are always balanced out by the lows of being injured and missing games. There was a time when I was out for nearly a year, having already been out for six months with another surgery before that.”

“I just want to challenge myself all the time.”

“I didn't dream of joining Man City as a professional one day, or representing England, because I didn't know that was even possible.”

“If I could, I'd change the way I came up through the football ranks. I'd love to have had an academy life the way the boys have it. I think female footballers would be so much better for having that opportunity, and we'd be more effective because we would be better players.”

“I didn't get paid enough money really to live properly, sleeping on people's sofas and stuff, but that was the moment when I thought, 'I just wanna play football professionally; whether I get paid 10 euros or 10,000 euros, I just wanna play.'”

“I was OK at tennis - good enough to beat Serena Williams, definitely... But no, I don't really like playing solo sport,s so I don't think I could have got to the top. I was just decent. Maths is my true calling in life, which is bizarre.”

“I played with the likes of Kelly Smith, Rachel Yankey, and Fara Williams - all these great players. Everybody knew who they were, and I was turning into one of these girls who were always my heroes.”

“I just don't have that natural instinct to be able to let my guard down and start speaking to people. I never have - I've always been a bit socially awkward, even with people I've known for a long time.”

“At Sunderland, our kit was five times too big, and we got the local bus to games; in America, I got bags of Nike kit, flew to away games, and played in front of thousands of fans. It opened my eyes to what women's football could - and should - be.”