‘I love playing next to her’ – Manchester City defender Kennedy hails Greenwood partnership | OneFootball

Manchester City’s Alanna Kennedy has expressed her delight at having the opportunity to form a defensive partnership with Alex Greenwood in recent weeks.

Following an injury to Laia Aleixandri ahead of the Manchester derby, Kennedy was called into the side as her replacement. The Australian international has formed a solid centre-back partnership with club captain Greenwood, helping Manchester City to record victories over both Manchester United and Liverpool.

When speaking in a Football Australia media conference, Kennedy hailed her partnership with Greenwood, labelling her defensive colleague as ‘a class player’.

“I absolutely love playing next to Alex and talking about our game as well,” Kennedy said. “We are obviously really good friends off the pitch but we have an amazing partnership on the field too.

“We like to acknowledge the little things that each other does in the game to contribute to goals. She’s such a quality player on the ball with her left foot and off the ball as well. She’s a leader, she leads vocally but also, I think most importantly, through her actions and her consistency week in, week out.

“She’s a class player and I love playing next to her.”

Kennedy has linked-up with the Australian national team for their April camp as they continue their preparations for this summer’s Olympic Games. The defender said that playing alongside such top quality players at club is really helping her form.

She said “It’s invaluable to be playing around those players and working with the coaching staff. It’s important to get better everyday and test yourself. I feel like I’m always growing as a footballer at the club.

“It’s a privilege to be around so many good players and it’ll also help with my form coming into the national team. I hope to continue to play and then carry my form into the Olympics.”

Manchester City are currently top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table with four games to go. Kennedy says that The Cityzens are taking their title bid one game at a time and are just trying to maintain their standards.

“We’re feeling really good,” she said. “I think we’ve had a turbulent couple of years during my time at the club. We’ve previously shown really good signs but cost ourselves in some moments.

“This year, we’ve been focusing on each game as it comes and making sure that we get the job done and play to our standards each week. We’re doing a good job of that and it is in our hands to still win the league. That’s the goal and hopefully, come the end of the season, we can do that.”

Kennedy has just the one game to prepare for with Australia during the current international window. The CommBank Matildas face Mexico in an international friendly in the United States on Wednesday 10 April 2024.