Hayes on how to compete with Barcelona; Bright and James fitness update

The Blues are in Spain ahead of Saturday lunchtime’s first leg and at her pre-match media conference, our manager explained that the crowded fixture schedule leading up to this game has limited the time for thinking about the contest specifically. Therefore carefully honed habits are important, but that is not the entire story.

‘Barcelona have been the top team in Europe in recent years,’ Hayes began. ‘Results have suggested that, they are world champions and European champions, but this is a football match and there’s two legs, and our job is to get ourselves in a position where we can come here and give them competition.

‘You have to be in it to compete for it and you know that you’re going to face a team like Barcelona at some stage, and it happens to be at the semi-finals. We understand the team, we understand the opponent, and we respect them. They are world-class and have unbelievable players.

‘We’ve had a game Wednesday and we’ve only had the one training session today so we’re not overthinking or over analysing anything. We just have to keep building on our experiences in Europe. No player needs motivation to play this game.

‘Next week we get a little more time together on the grass to work on things between the two games, based on the learnings. For this game we have to keep doing the good things that we’ve been doing throughout Europe this year.’

Hayes was able to report that both Millie Bright and Lauren James are available for selection having travelled to Barcelona. James missed the midweek win over Aston Villa due to an injury while the club captain has been out for a lot, lot longer – having not played since November.

The squad has proved its strength in depth many times and Hayes admitted she finds it hard to pick an 11 for any game in any competition, let alone a European semi-final.

‘I always come from a tactical perspective, first and foremost, from what the needs are for that game. Of course, when you play three games directly after an international break, within a seven-day period, you have to utilise the squad.

‘We certainly know that no matter the team we put out, we’re highly competitive and Wednesday demonstrated that. So many players came in and added much needed energy.

‘It’s not just the personnel, it’s about structures. When you’re playing against an opponent who’s going to have over 70 per cent of the ball, they’re going to have control of the ball and the game in that regard, how you defend spaces is important.

‘We operate in an environment of principles. The principles are always the same out of possession. The principles are always the same in possession. But what you do is you might look to exploit a particular area of the pitch or a particular player, you might want to get overloads on.

‘Our principles are well established, we train them all the time, but when it comes to a game where you’re playing an opponent that you know will dominate the ball, as it is what they do against everyone, we have to be mindful that the team we have out there tomorrow has to enact all of the principles at the highest level to put us in a position to be really competitive.’