It had been more than a year since Fran Kirby pulled on an England shirt, 381 days to be precise, but to hear the response of the crowd on her return from her latest injury during England’s 1-0 Nations League win over Belgium is something she won’t forget.
Kirby injured a knee in Chelsea’s Continental Cup semi-final win over West Ham in February and missed the summer’s World Cup after requiring surgery. The forward also had a lengthy spell out in 2019-20, with pericarditis, an inflammation of the fluid-filled sac around the heart.
“The support that I’ve had over the last year has been incredible from both sets of fans, national team and from Chelsea,” said Kirby, after she came on in the 65th minute in place of Ella Toone. “I can’t fault anyone for their support of me. That’s been really pivotal for me coming back because I know people get frustrated when I’m injured and not able to be out there and it’s frustrating for me, so to hear that reaction when I come on is really special and something I won’t forget.”
As Kirby stood on the sideline waiting to enter the fray against Belgium, Rachel Daly, who was coming on to replace Alessia Russo, leaned in and said something to the forward. “She was super supportive when I was coming on,” said Kirby. “She was just saying how happy she was to have me back. She said when I get the ball to just run with it. It was nice to hear that from a teammate, that they’re happy to have you back and they’ve missed you.”
Lucy Bronze echoed Daly’s sentiments. “It’s really good to have her back, I think everyone is pleased,” she said. “We’ve seen glimpses of it tonight, her close control. On her day she is still one of the best players in the world. She is a huge miss for us, particularly when you think about the fact that we played a whole World Cup without a talent like Fran Kirby.”
The Lionesses were dominant against Belgium, who they face again in Leuven on Tuesday, but they could not build on Lauren Hemp’s first-half goal. “It’s important that we’re creating the chances,” said Kirby. “Things have been quite similar at club [level], we’ve been creating a lot of chances but not putting the ball in the back of the net.
“The most important thing is getting the three points in these types of games, it’s what we set out to do. We don’t set out to score five or six goals, we say we want to get three points. So we want to score more goals, we want to make it more entertaining for everyone coming to watch, but first and foremost is the three points.”
