'I'm really happy I stayed' - Lionesses star Lauren Hemp on rejecting Barcelona, ending Man City's WSL title wait and potential FA Cup glory

If City made relatively comfortable work of winning that WSL title, racing into an 11-point lead in early February that allowed for the odd wobble as they clinched the trophy with a game to spare, their route through to the FA Cup final was anything but.

The first three games were simple enough, sure, as City disposed of the lower-tier trio of Bournemouth, Sheffield United and Birmingham City by an aggregate score of 11-0, but they were staring defeat in the face in the semi-finals, 2-0 down to holders Chelsea with 85 minutes on the clock.

That was until Mary Fowler produced a brilliant strike to halve the deficit, Khadija Shaw's excellent improvisation levelled the tie in stoppage time and, after the build-up to the game had been dominated by talk of Chelsea's interest in Shaw this summer, the Jamaica international completed the comeback with her second goal in extra-time, to win it 3-2.

"We'd got subs coming on who were impacting games, people playing in different positions, it was just a crazy game. I thought I had a broken nose at one point! It was mad," Hemp recalls. "But it just shows that we can come back from anything, no matter what time is on the clock.

"The team never gives up. I looked on everyone's faces [at 2-0] and no one was down or anything. It was like, 'We've got a job to do and we're going to do it'. We managed to get the first one and I think our belief shot up so much."

It was the second game on a day of semi-final drama, after Brighton had also come from 2-0 down to beat Liverpool and reach the FA Cup final for the first time. The Seagulls went into that tie on quite a run, with their last four games returning a 1-1 draw with Arsenal, a 1-1 draw with Manchester United, a 3-2 win over City and a 2-0 victory in the FA Cup quarter-finals to knock out the Gunners. They've hit form at a wonderful time, something Hemp and City are well aware of given the defeat they suffered on the south coast last month.

"They're a very hard team to beat," the England star notes. "They play really good football, but they also have a mentality as well. In duels, they're hard to get past, they're very physical players and they've got some fantastic individuals - Fran Kirby being one of them. I played with her a lot at England and she's massive for them."

But while there's clear respect for Brighton and what they are capable of, Hemp is keen to point out the confidence she has in her own team as Sunday's trip to Wembley approaches.

"They are hard to play against, but we also know that we weren't necessarily our best in those games as well," she says, reflecting on that recent defeat to the Seagulls but also the three narrow one-goal wins registered since Dario Vidosic took the Brighton manager's job at the start of last season.

"When we are our best, we can beat anyone, so it's important to keep that attitude and mentality going into that game."

Underneath that confidence is an insatiable hunger that has been awakened by that WSL triumph. Yes, lifting the trophy has been a real delight for a City team that missed out on goal difference in 2024, by two points in 2021 and due to the change to a points-per-game ratio in 2020, after being top of the standings when the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted the season. But having gone four years without a trophy, it has also made the players desperate to enjoy the feeling again and again and again - starting with Sunday's final.

"It has made me want to then win it again and go and retain the title next year, but it's also given that hunger to the rest of the team to want to go and do the same, because a lot of the girls have also been here for a while," Hemp explains. "I think we've had a fantastic season and it's only right to end it in a great way as well.

"We've done so well to get [to the final]. Obviously, the Chelsea game was hard for us. We managed to turn it around and I think it shows the winning mentality and the determination of this team. We never give up and that's what's led us to win our first trophy as well this season. Hopefully it'll help us achieve the next."

To follow that WSL crown up with an FA Cup triumph would be huge. It's something Chelsea did four times in their six-year dominance of the league, marking themselves out as the force in English women's football by winning 13 of the 18 domestic honours on offer between 2019 and 2025, while reaching three more finals. If City want to back up this WSL triumph and enjoy a sustained period of success themselves, winning on Sunday would be a good first step.

What makes Hemp believe that City can do that and, longer-term, make a habit of winning again? She's been in a similar situation with England, helping the Lionesses to break through that glass ceiling by winning the 2022 European Championship, before going on to maintain their spot at the top of the game with a 2023 Women's World Cup final and another Euros triumph last summer. If this is City breaking through the glass ceiling, what makes her believe they can stay at the top?

"I think when you win, everyone just wants to relive that feeling again. The moments we've had over the last couple of weeks have been, probably, if you ask everyone, one of the best times of their lives and you're so desperate to relive that feeling that I think it'll carry us on through to next season," Hemp says.

"Obviously, everyone having the experience of winning the league this year, it then just adds something to everyone's toolbox to then carry them through each season. I think [with England] we took that from winning the first Euros. We knew there was a target on our backs and everyone would want to beat us, but we took that as fuel to just keep adding and wanting more.

"When you reach that ceiling and it's like, 'How can I get higher than that?' That's what we'll look to push for next year, now that's our standard. Winning the league is our standard. How can we keep pushing then, into the Champions League? I feel like it's only the start and not necessarily the end of a year. It's now the start of something even bigger."

There's still one more game before the focus really turns to next season, though. Wembley beckons for City, a venue Hemp knows extremely well. She was on the scoresheet in the 2018 FA Cup final, as City beat West Ham 3-0, and she featured in the win over Everton a year later, too.

With victory in the Euro 2022 final coming at the same venue, the positive memories outweigh the bad ones by a 3-1 scoreline, after City's extra-time defeat to Chelsea in this competition four years ago.

"I love going to Wembley," Hemp beams. "It's a great occasion and I've had some pretty good moments there. Hopefully, I'll make another one."