Wendie Renard

“Lots of people have fought for women's football and we're starting to reap the rewards of that.”

“I've won everything there is to win with Lyon, and I would really love to lift an international trophy and take it back home to France.”

“When I joined the academy - the equivalent of Clairefontaine - in Martinique, with all the good young players, we used to work a lot, including weekends.”

“It's not every day in your life that you're offered a second chance and you've got to take it.”

“Growing up, I had this objective of winning titles, but more importantly of succeeding in mainland France.”

“Training sessions are war; you play a little training match and you want to win.”

“When you say something on social media, you do not realise how painful it is or the consequences it can have. It can leave a mark because we are all human, we all have emotions.”

“Even if you're dominated in a match, if you have one chance, you have to know how to go for it.”

“Given that I am from Martinique, there was not much visibility. I cannot cite any names of female players I looked up to because women's football wasn't being shown on TV, so it was hard to have a role model.”

“When it's time for the Champions League, I'm very excited and I watch most of the games, both men and women.”

“I started playing with boys from the age of seven and was also playing in the playground after school. We went to play like every child from a city does.”

“It was rare for girls to play football in Martinique, so it was even rarer that it was the women in my family who pushed me to play. They were the ones who loved football as much as me.”

“Efficiency is the golden word for me.”

“I was very athletic when I was young.”

“I'm a religious person.”

“My mother used to play handball, and my aunts and uncles. I played handball for a while but I even used that ball to play football.”

“Since I was very small, I always said to my mother, 'I want to wear the French national team jersey.'”

“Being named captain of France made me so proud. It also really helped me to grow up. It hasn't changed my life or the person that I am, though. When it comes down to it, I think the role requires you to be yourself, above all.”

“I think things are chosen for us, we already have our paths.”

“When you're from the Antilles, or of African descent, you're often stereotyped as nonchalant, and it's true my body language might have seemed that way sometimes.”