England‘s Keira Walsh said she is targeting another quadruple with Barcelona this season as the European champions prepare to kick off their Champions League defence against her former side, Manchester City, this week.
Barça also lifted Liga F, the Copa de la Reina and the Spanish Supercopa last season as they won all four trophies in the same year for the first time ever.
Walsh, 27, was the subject of interest from Arsenal and Chelsea in the summer but stayed at Barça, where she said she is happy and hungry to win even more silverware.
“It was my first quadruple and I want to do it again this season,” she told club media before returning to her homeland to face City on Wednesday.
“That’s why I play for Barcelona. But I think to me, the most important thing is that the way we want to play and the way we want to win, it’s about playing good football at the same time.
“That’s why I signed for this club. I think that the ambition is there for every single one of us to go and win another Champions League. Hopefully I can make it three [in a row].
“I’m happy here. I’ve got a good relationship with all of the staff, all of the players. Everyone’s really supportive. For me, it’s a great place to be as a midfielder.
“I’m always learning, always improving, and I think with the new manager [Pere Romeu], he has a lot of confidence in me and he makes me feel confident when I’m playing.
“So yeah, for me, I think I’m really happy here and yeah, we’ll just see how the season goes and hopefully we can win more trophies together.”
Walsh spent eight years as a City player before joining Barça in 2022 for a fee of around €400,000 — which broke the transfer record in the women’s game at the time — and she has been a key player under both Jonatan Giráldez and now Romeu.
This week’s match-up with her former team will be her first since she moved to Spain, and she is expecting a big contingent of friends and family to be in attendance in Manchester.
“It’s a it’s a really special moment for me,” she added. “It’s the first time I’ve been back since I’ve signed.
“I think my grandma is coming to the game, which is nice. She’s not watched me play for the last few years, so I think she’s excited as well.
“It’ll be nice to see so many of my friends and family in the stands. I felt bad because I think I’ve taken quite a lot of tickets for this game, which is unusual for me because normally I don’t take that many.
“Obviously I have friends on the City team as well but once we cross that white line it’s total professional mode. It’s not going to be an easy game. We need to go there and play well and I’m fully focused on that.”
Walsh, who is out of contract at the end of the season, goes into the game on the back of a brace in the weekend’s 8-1 win at Madrid CFF.
The Rochdale-born midfielder had never scored twice in a professional game before and only scored twice in 39 appearances last season.
“The girls are always telling me to shoot,” she said. “I feel like the opportunity opened up for me. To score two is very unusual for me. I don’t normally score two in a season, so two in one game is amazing.
“I think it’s definitely the first time it’s ever happened in my professional career. So yeah, I was very surprised. I wasn’t sure how to celebrate after the second one, actually. It was a really nice moment.”
