Lucy Bronze will always relish the chance to play in the knockout rounds of a major tournament but England's upcoming EURO 2022 quarter-final has added significance.
The Lionesses will face Spain on Wednesday for a semi-final spot and Bronze will soon be playing with a significant chunk of the Spanish squad, having sealed a move to Barcelona earlier this summer.
Nine of Spain’s 23-strong squad for the tournament play for Barcelona, though this is not the first time the 30-year-old has found herself in this situation.
Five years ago England beat France 1-0 in the quarter-finals of EURO 2017 with eight of the French squad made up of Lyon players - the side Bronze joined just two weeks later.
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Though fully aware that rivals will become teammates in the not too distant future, Bronze is not dwelling on that prospect ahead of England’s biggest test to date.
“I can’t say I know any of them personally. But it will be nice to play against them,” said Bronze, speaking to 90min.
"It’s funny because the last Euros I actually played against France and we knocked them out and I moved to Lyon a few weeks later, so I’ve already been through that awkward situation.
"Either way I’m pretty excited for the match-up and either way the team’s going to have world class players playing that we need to stop - regardless if they’re team-mates, ex-team-mates, whatever it is. We’re just excited for it."
England were flawless in the group stages, scoring 14 goals and conceding none as they eased their way into the last eight in their home tournament.
In contrast Spain - who are missing key players Alexia Putellas and Jennifer Hermoso through injury - were beaten by Germany in their group and needed a last-minute winner against Denmark to seal their quarter-final spot.
Despite coming into Wednesday’s match in significantly better form, Bronze is refusing to underestimate England’s next opponents.
She added: "To be honest, the quarter finals is a one-off game so regardless of form going into it, it’s who turns up on the day,
"We’ve had a great last two games, but we narrowly edged past Austria so we have to show up and do our best no matter who we face in the quarter-final.
"The opposite team could turn up and have an amazing game as well, so we have to put our form to bed now. We can celebrate, we’ve had a lot of records and goals, but that’s it - a quarterfinal’s a quarterfinal."
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