The She Kicks Locker Room: Game Ready with Rhiannon Roberts (Liverpool)

Liverpool’s Wales defender describes a matchday built on superstition and admits as much halfway through. Three hours before kick-off it is Weetabix followed by a Pot Noodle – beef and tomato, having switched off chicken and mushroom after a run of injuries – washed down with electrolytes. The same lucky underwear, the same sports bra, the same perfume, and boots cleaned before every game, which is straightforward given she will only wear white ones. She deliberately winds herself up before kick-off because she performs better under pressure, and rates nerves as proof of how much she wants it. Her partner Nathan Rooney, a coach, helps her analyse games she is unhappy with. Leighanne Robe is the club joker; for Wales, she says, the room is quiet without Tash Harding.