'It was gutting' – Lionesses star Mary Earps reveals heartbreak at Champions League exit & reacts to ‘extraordinary’ being expected from her

The England international is a two-time winner of the FIFA Best Women’s Goalkeeper award and helped the Lionesses to European Championship glory in Euro 2022 – helping to raise her profile throughout the world. She took the brave decision to leave her homeland at Manchester United in the summer of 2024 and head to France.

PSG suffered elimination from elite continental competition early in Earps’ time with the club, and she has told The Guardian of suffering a 5-2 aggregate defeat to Juventus in the second round of qualifying: “I can’t really put it any other way than it was gutting. Especially with that being a massive factor into why I made the move to Paris. It was unfortunate, the way it happened. I think, in all honesty, we didn’t play our best and we got what we deserved, but it was just really unfortunate and is really hard to get past.”

Earps’ efforts in Paris were always going to come under scrutiny, with any supposed wobbles being magnified. She added on operating under the brightest of spotlights: “It is a massive compliment but you do get criticised more and held to a higher standard than what other people do. Then the extraordinary is expected. But, the reality of it is that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m really grateful for everything that I’ve achieved and the exciting thing for me is that I still feel like I’ve got room for improvement.”

Earps faces fierce competition for places with PSG and England, meaning that she has to find a way of maintaining impressive individual standards. The 31-year-old will never back down from such a challenge and remains determined to play important roles for club and country.