Manchester United midfielder Katie Zelem says that she is looking forward to finally having the opportunity to play in-front of fans at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils face Everton at ‘The Theatre of Dreams’ tomorrow in their latest Barclays FA Women’s Super League match. The game will be the first to be played at Old Trafford with fans present.
Zelem played in last season’s match against West Ham United at Old Trafford which was staged behind-closed-doors due to COVID-19 restrictions. When speaking ahead of the team’s latest Old Trafford appearance, she said that last season’s experience was almost a dress rehearsal for playing at the stadium in-front of fans this year.
“In COVID times, it was a lot different when we were playing,” Zelem said. “For me, a huge part of football is the fans, I’ve been a fan myself and I’ve also been a player so when you see both sides of it, you see how important the fans are.
“Games during COVID were very different to what they are now and you could almost say that it was a dress rehearsal last year (at Old Trafford). We got to grips with the changing rooms and the size of the pitch. It is going to be huge now playing in-front of more than 20,000 fans, it’ll be a whole new experience.”
Sunday could be an opportunity for Manchester United to sell the women’s team to a greater audience and try to attract more fans to their home games at the Leigh Sports Village. Zelem went on to say that she is not thinking about that aspect and that the team are fully focused on putting in a performance.
She said “It is about focusing on Sunday, Old Trafford is a huge occasion for us. The attendances will take care of themselves, whether it is 20,000 or 30,000 at Old Trafford or 5,000 at Leigh I think football takes care of itself.
“Our main priority is getting the performances right and hopefully pick up points, not just on Sunday but in the rest of the games that follow.”
Manchester United’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Everton at Old Trafford kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.
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