Lionesses star Grace Clinton scored a sublime winning goal as Manchester United started the World Sevens Football tournament in style against Roma.
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Man Utd playing in inaugural World Sevens FootballClinton wins opening game with gorgeous finishToone, Le Tissier & Tullis-Joyce also in Red Devils squadFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Clinton is part of the 20-player squad that the Red Devils have taken to the inaugural edition of the seven-a-side tournament this week, alongside United States goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce and fellow England stars Ella Toone and Maya Le Tissier. Marc Skinner's side are in a group with Roma, Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica, and are top of the table after beating their Italian opponents 3-2 on Wednesday thanks to Clinton's sublime finish.
AdvertisementWATCH THE CLIPWHAT CLINTON SAID ABOUT WORLD SEVENS FOOTBALL
Winner of the tournament – which also features Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Ajax and Rosengard in Group 1 – will receive $2.5 million (£1.85m) of the $5m (£3.7m) prize pool, with $1m (£750,000) set aside for the runners-up. Taking place in Estoril, Portugal, all eight teams will play twice on Thursday, to complete the group stage, with the semi-finals, third-placed match and final all to take place on Friday.
Clinton repeatedly described her first experience of the event on Wednesday as "fun" and told there is a plan if she can help United get over the line and can come out on top in the whole thing. "Me and Celin [Bizet] would love to get on the DJ decks if we win, and it's a party," she laughed.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Given the regular criticisms of the women's football calendar, which many players and managers believe is causing more injuries due to how tightly-packed it is at the elite level, some have wondered if a tournament like World Sevens Football will only add to that issue. There is little room for rest in the schedule and this would be a time for many of the players participating in the event this week to do so, with their club seasons having ended.
Asked if she had concerns about getting injured during World Sevens Football, which is occurring less than six weeks before England's European Championship defence begins, Clinton said: "Me and the girls spoke about it but we sort of said, we would we doing this in training, the exact same thing – probably sometimes more intense. So we said, 'Why not come here and probably get more fitness and enjoy ourselves?'"