'She's been in the wars!' - England star Alex Greenwood praised for 'top class' quality as she makes Man City return from serious head injury in derby win over Man Utd at Old Trafford

The defender did concede a penalty for handball that allowed Man Utd to take the lead in Sunday's Women's Super League derby but she was rock solid otherwise to help City come from 1-0 down to win 3-1, despite them being reduced to 10 for the final half an hour.

Greenwood went down with a worrying head injury during England's last international window and had to be stretchered off in the first half of an eventual defeat to Belgium. She has missed City's last two games as a result, a defeat at Arsenal and a shock loss to Brighton, but returned on Sunday to help her club get back to winning ways.

Asked about Greenwood's return, Man City boss Gareth Taylor heaped praise on the defender in his post-match press conference. "Her experience, her know-how, her determination and her grit... She made really good decisions at the right time, Alex, and [she's done that] after a few training sessions as well because we've been quite limited on what we can do with her.

"Unfortunately, the other day, one of the first training sessions she came back, she took a big gash on her leg in a challenge, so she has been in the wars! But her experience and her quality and the determination that she showed tonight was top class."

Man City have two more fixtures before the next international break, facing Leicester in the Continental Cup on Wednesday night before hosting Tottenham next weekend. Then, Greenwood will likely head back off on England duty as the Lionesses desperately try to recover from a terrible start to their Nations League campaign, one which will decide whether or not Team GB will have a women's team at the Olympic Games.