ELLA TOONE joked about being pictured eating a Cornish pasty with the popularity of the Lionesses’ soaring after their Euros triumph.
And the Manchester United forward, 22, intends to keep using her platform to help grow the women’s game following the team’s historic win.
Toone was speaking to Sky Sports before the Red Devils’ pre-season trip to France to compete in the Amos Women’s French Cup this evening.
At 8:00 pm the WSL star and her team-mates take on French giants Paris Saint-Germain who finished second in France’s top-flight last term.
Of the impact of England’s Euros win, Toone said: “It showed this summer that we made the nation proud, we’ve made everyone proud.
“We’re fighting for so many more things than just women’s football.
“This is just the start of our journey, and we want to keep using our platform as much as we can now to really grow the game and to help with anything that we can.
“I think for us, as women footballers, we only ever wanted equal opportunity and I think now we’re starting to be given that.
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“We’ve always wanted change and we’ve always tried to fight for change.
“I feel like by winning the Euros this has really helped us and it will now for a long time.”
The Lionesses’ storming run at the European Championship has seen their public profile grow considerably.
An audience of 17.9million viewers tuned into the BBC to watch their 2-1 defeat of Germany in the final, making the match the most watched show on UK TV this year.
Toone, who was on the scoresheet with England’s opener, admits the victory has seen the public profile of the Lionesses ‘blow-up’
And the Wigan-born player revealed she has even been snapped snacking on a Cornish pasty.
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The Man United ace added: “I got papped eating in a pasty in Tyldesley. That was the first article out about me eating a pasty.
“The women in the shop were buzzing so they gave me a pasty for free.”
On the media and public attention players are receiving Toone added: “It’s crazy and I think that I didn’t really expect it and I don’t know if any of us really did.
“We knew that it was going to blow up the women’s game, but we didn’t know in which ways.
“And paparazzi following us wasn’t one of those ways that we thought it would blow up.
“But that’s part and parcel of it now and that’s what we’ve got to deal with.
“And that’s how much we’ve changed the women’s game.”
The Red Devils, who finished fourth in the top tier last term have been busy in the transfer market adding seven new players to their ranks.
Adriana Leon, Grace Clinton, Rachel Williams and Maya Le Tissier are among the WSL stars who have switched to Marc Skinner’s team sealing moves from West Ham, Everton, Tottenham and Brighton.
England striker Nikita Parris and France and Spain aces Assiatou Tounkara and Lucia Garcia also moved to the side this summer.
Their switches followed transfers from Arsenal and Spanish clubs Athletic and Atletico Madrid.
Man United’s duel with PSG comes ahead of their WSL season-opening trip to Spurs with the team targeting a Champions League spot next year.
Red Devils boss Skinner said: “The opportunity to face elite European opposition, in an excellent environment, will stand the team in great stead ahead of the start of our Women’s Super League campaign.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
