The Manchester City midfielder Julie Blakstad has a busy few days ahead. On Sunday the 21-year-old Norwegian will step out at the 53,400-capacity Etihad Stadium as City host Manchester United in the team’s final game before the winter break and then, on Monday, she will have to switch off, whatever the outcome, as she sits exams for her master’s degree in engineering.
“Yeah, it’s pretty busy,” she says with a grin. “My exam is the day after the derby, but then I get to go home for Christmas so it’s not too bad.”
Blakstad’s masters focuses on energy and the environment with some economy and leadership incorporated. It provides an escape from the demands of being a professional athlete and she has benefited from it. “It’s different from person to person,” she says. “For me, it’s important to have something occupying you when you’re not playing football or when you’re not here with the other girls. Something that makes your mind think about something totally different and in a totally different way.”
The studying may be ongoing but for now the focus is firmly on the match. “It’s always important as a football player to have the ability to focus on the next game, the next thing coming up and not worry about everything else,” says Blakstad. “But obviously I have to study hard in the weeks before so I’m well-prepared for that as well.”
The game is a big one. City may be unbeaten against United, with three wins and two draws, but Marc Skinner’s United side are two places ahead in the league, in second. If City win on Sunday, however, they will be level on points going into the winter break.
The gap was created by City’s poor start to the season, when they suffered back-to-back defeats in their opening two WSL games, having been knocked out of Champions League qualifying by Real Madrid. Blakstad, who joined City in January from Rosenborg, says the situation is down to a combination of factors.
“We played in qualifying for the Champions League and we didn’t win that game,” she says. “I think that affected people, we really wanted to go through, and we didn’t. And then we come back, we got into the league games and have to perform at our highest level straight away. We had a new group with lots of new players coming in and obviously they had to adapt to how we play as well.”
It takes time to adapt, a fact Blakstad knows given that it took her time to learn the rhythm of English football last winter. “When I came in January, it took some time to adapt to the new style of playing and how [the manager] Gareth [Taylor] wants to play,” she says.
“Probably the biggest difference between the leagues is the tempo and the speed of the players, but also how quickly you have to think in the game. Overall the general level is higher. Everything is quicker, all the players run quicker, but they also think quicker. So you need to be more aware when you get the ball and know what you want to do with it next.”
Blakstad has no regrets, though, and wanted to be pushed out of her comfort zone. “Not always being the best on the team and having players that are better and can challenge you in training and games is important,” she says.
More than 42,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday’s showdown with United. Both are in action in the Continental League Cup in the coming week but the derby is a chance for Gareth Taylor’s side to assert their title credentials before the winter break.
“Being the last league game before Christmas makes it important but, at the same time, we don’t have to put too much pressure on it,” says Blakstad. “It’s still only one game and there’s only three points that we can take away. So I feel like it’s most important that we believe in what we’re doing and stick to that process. Even though it is a big game and there’s going to be a lot of people there watching, which will increase the pressure from the outside, it’s still just a football game and we can only do the best that we can.”
For Blakstad, confidence is high after scoring her first goal for City against Everton on 19 November and then netting in the team’s next two games as well. The Norway international is looking forward to playing at the Etihad for the first time. “I just hope everyone is going to show up and that we can fill the whole Etihad, that would be a dream come true. For me, it’s the first time playing there as well. I’m just really excited.”
