Maya Le Tissier: Man United women hero ecstatic after historic night | OneFootball

Manchester United Women made history last night with an impressive 1-0 win over Valerenga in the Champions League.

Maya Le Tissier the hero

United pushed for a goal in an exciting first half but it was their captain Le Tissier who broke the deadlock.

The young defender stepped up under pressure and coolly fired her side in front from the penalty spot to secure the club’s first ever European win in the Women’s game.

Speaking to Disney plus (via The BBC) the significance of the result was clearly not lost on the 23-year-old.

Incredible night

Commenting on the importance of the match Le Tissier stated, “incredible. This is where you want to be, playing in the Champions League. It meant the world to us. It’s been a long, well my four years, for Tooney she’s been here like ten years or something. We’ve worked hard to get here, we deserve to be here so to get the first win is something we wanted to do and so to do it tonight we’re very happy.”

The England international also highlighted the challenges of facing such a defensively strong team like Valerenga.

She added, “sometimes when you play against a low block it is the hardest thing to break them down. You get frustrated and try to force balls through. The best thing about this competition is that you face different opposition that you’re not used to, they pose different threats and you get different opportunities to learn from.”

Challenge to squad depth

The captain commented that the squad was certainly being challenged with the amount of injuries they are facing and that they will welcome back any returning players with open arms.

She asserted, “we have a fantastic group of players but we’ve had a lot of injuries so it’s mainly been the first eleven playing most of the games and the minutes. We’ve got most of the players back apart from Millie and Celine so we can get some rest for some players.”

Le Tissier admitted that her side still need to get used to juggling two matches a week but that it was a challenge that she was raring to meet.

Commenting on upcoming fixtures she admitted, “I’m still trying to get my head around the concept to be honest. Think I get it now, three home, three away. Obviously the next game is Everton away [in the WSL] then Atletico Madrid away. It’s just so exciting, even coming out to the music and seeing all the stuff with Champions League on it. It was a special night for all of us to play in our first proper Champions League.”

United will next be in action away to Everton on Sunday lunchtime.

Featured image Jan Kruger via Getty Images

online polls

The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social