Category: FC Barcelona

There’s a big laugh from the other end of the Zoom call as Johanna Rytting Kaneryd reflects on her first season at Chelsea.

Having gone from being the star of the show at BK Hacken in her native Sweden, it was tough initially for Rytting Kaneryd as she had to get used to not playing every game.

“I learned a lot last year, especially about my patience. It’s not very good!”

Having signed for one of the biggest clubs in Europe, Rytting Kaneryd spent her first season in London watching and learning what was required of her so that when her chance came she was ready.

“But you need the time, for sure, and last year, for me, it was all about learning, getting better,” Rytting Kaneryd tells TNT Sports in an exclusive interview from Chelsea’s Cobham training ground ahead of the UEFA Women’s Champions League clash with Barcelona.

“If I look back now compared to last year, I’ve been playing a lot and I feel like I’ve developed a lot.

“I know how many times [Chelsea manager] Emma [Hayes] told me to just be patient. It’s something about coming, especially to this environment, it’s really not just a saying, it’s actually true, it really does take a year to get up to speed. It has taken me that long and she was right, even though I hated it!”

So in that time, what did Rytting Kaneryd learn?

“What I learned last season was that I had to work on every aspect of my game, not just focus on my strengths. I mean, I’m a player that likes to go one vs one, and I want to use my speed but I also learned that I had to improve a lot of other stuff in my style of play.

“So I had to look first of all at how we play and last year we were crossing a lot, and that maybe wasn’t one of my strengths and so that’s something I was working on a lot last year, and also to be more direct in my play. I feel like that’s definitely something I learned.

“You can see that, this year, I have more assists and more goals. I’m doing more of these things that I didn’t do enough last year.”

She’s certainly making an impact. In her second season, Rytting Kaneryd has five assists so far in the WSL; no-one else in the league has more. She’s also got three goals to boot, although she says she’s not happy with that tally and that she “needs to be more selfish”, but it’s not easy because “if I see my team-mate in a better opportunity, I’m always going to pass. That’s just how I work.”

It can be tough for players whose primary job is to create rather than score, but Rytting Kaneryd was a player in Sweden who would be more of a goal threat.

She says that sometimes she will watch games back and wonder why she chose to pass rather than shoot, but she’s trying to shift her mentality and become more ruthless.

That is part of an overall philosophy of hers that involves becoming a player who sparks something in the crowd.

“I want to be a player that the fans like to watch, I want to be known as that and to create a kind of energy.

“I want people to see when I get the ball something is happening, and of course, I want to help the team and to do that you have to score, you have to assist, you have to do all this stuff to win. So I’m super happy that I can bring something to this team to help us win.”

One of the interesting things about Rytting Kaneryd’s role at Chelsea this season has been playing with so many different strikers because of the sheer number of injuries at the club.

From Sam Kerr to Lauren James with Catarina Macario and January signing Mayra Ramirez in-between, Rytting Kaneryd has had to constantly think who she is providing for and how she can do it best.

So how does she adjust game to game?

“As a right winger, I know that with, Sam Kerr for example, I know her heading ability is unreal. With Mayra now I get that physical, strong player who is always going to be in the right position.

“With Lauren, her technical abilities are unbelievable. So I mean, of course, you have to look at what kind of player you’re playing with and what kind of service you can come up with to help the strikers.”

Eventually, the interview has to turn to the past couple of weeks for Chelsea, which to put it mildly haven’t been good.

Knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United and losing the Conti Cup final to Arsenal, Chelsea’s quadruple dream has brutally evaporated before our eyes.

For Rytting Kaneryd, of course it hurts, it would be strange if it didn’t, but she says that the mentality and team spirit within the club has them ready to fight back.

“I mean, we really come together as a club and as a team. It’s football, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but the important thing is, what do we learn from it? And what can we take to the next game? The best thing about football is that you get a new chance.

“Of course it’s hurting, I want to play in a final, I want to win every trophy I can, the whole team wants that. So of course, it’s always going to suck, losing. But now it’s all about looking forward to what we can still win this season. Look at the chances and opportunity we have, not every team has that. So we really need to learn from these defeats and come together as a team and do the best we can to achieve our goals.

“I think there is something special about this team and this club. It is a mentality I haven’t experienced before and I enjoy every minute being here.

“I really love coming to training and really it’s everything, not just the training sessions, it’s everything around the club, you can really tell there is a mentality here that is special.

“I feel like we have suffered a lot this season with injuries and Emma leaving etc. And we lost these two last games, which is always hard. However, we can show that we can really come together as a team and as a club.”

The team they have to show that mentality against? Reigning UEFA Champions League holders FC Barcelona, who knocked The Blues out of this competition last year at this stage.

For Rytting Kaneryd, her individual match-up could well come against international team-mate Fridolina Rolfo, who is back from injury like she never left. But Rytting Kaneryd prefers to focus on what Chelsea will do well.

“I don’t want to be all focused on one player, and then suddenly, she’s not playing. So for me, it’s looking at everything on the pitch, but also not to look too much. Because if I have too much respect, and if I look too much at what they’re doing, I’m going to lose a little bit of myself. So I would rather just go on my feeling, and I think it’s important to talk about what we should do and what we can do.

“I think we learned a lot from last year. I think we showed them a little bit too much respect last year, and I mean, the score then was only 2-1 to them on aggregate in the end so it wasn’t huge.

“This year, I feel like we are strong as a team, I feel like we really know when we are playing at our best that we are really hard to beat. So for us, it’s all about focusing on what we can do to hurt them. But of course, they are an unbelievable team and they are super, super good and the individual players they have are top class, but at the same time, we also have that and we know our abilities. It’s going to be a fascinating game.”

What will her role be in trying to stop the Spanish juggernaut?

“I know what my strengths are and counter-attacking and running at defenders are definitely up there. I know that’s my biggest role in this team. So we know that we create a lot of chances from that and we are a super strong and physical team. If we get things right we’re going to be really hard to beat.

“It’s really time for that now [to win the UWCL] and we’re super motivated. If I thought for myself personally, this is really something I dream about.”

As the interview draws to a close, it’s hard not to feel the energy coming off Rytting Kaneryd, almost as if she wants to get onto the field and take on Barcelona right now, that she just lives for the big games. Is that right?

“I love playing big games. I love playing at the very top, and for me, something’s happening in my body when I’m playing those games. As you can tell, I hate to lose, and like I said, the best thing with this job is that you get a new chance, and I’m super motivated and excited for the next game.

“When you’re young, and you’re not very experienced, with stuff like that of course, sometimes you can almost go into yourself. For me, the worst feeling is going off the pitch after a game and I feel like I haven’t done enough or done what I can do, I hate that feeling.”

The entire concept of the UEFA Champions League is that it pits the best against the best. For Rytting Kaneryd and Chelsea, these are the moments they believe they are built for.