Duggan’s Spanish Delight (Toni Duggan interview)

Toni Duggan is the third English player ever to wear Barcelona’s colours, after Gary Lineker and a Leeds goalkeeper almost nobody remembers, and her first season abroad went better than she expected: eleven goals in twenty-six games, a league lost by one point and a cup won in the last seconds of extra time. The adjustment was the style. English football is direct and involves you constantly; Spanish football is patient, disciplined and demands you stay switched on, and she says the technical level of her team mates is another thing entirely up close. The pressure at Barcelona, she notes, is a different level again – win and you are the best, lose and questions are asked. Queen for a day, she would have equality.