VIDEO: What a finish! Lionesses star Grace Clinton sits Roma goalkeeper down with winning goal as Man Utd kick off World Sevens Football tournament with victory

Clinton is part of the 20-player squad that the Red Devils have taken to the inaugural edition of the seven-a-side tournament this week, alongside United States goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce and fellow England stars Ella Toone and Maya Le Tissier. Marc Skinner's side are in a group with Roma, Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica, and are top of the table after beating their Italian opponents 3-2 on Wednesday thanks to Clinton's sublime finish.

Winner of the tournament - which also features Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Ajax and Rosengard in Group 1 - will receive $2.5 million (£1.85m) of the $5m (£3.7m) prize pool, with $1m (£750,000) set aside for the runners-up. Taking place in Estoril, Portugal, all eight teams will play twice on Thursday, to complete the group stage, with the semi-finals, third-placed match and final all to take place on Friday.

Clinton repeatedly described her first experience of the event on Wednesday as "fun" and told BBC Sport there is a plan if she can help United get over the line and can come out on top in the whole thing. "Me and Celin [Bizet] would love to get on the DJ decks if we win, and it's a party," she laughed.

Given the regular criticisms of the women's football calendar, which many players and managers believe is causing more injuries due to how tightly-packed it is at the elite level, some have wondered if a tournament like World Sevens Football will only add to that issue. There is little room for rest in the schedule and this would be a time for many of the players participating in the event this week to do so, with their club seasons having ended.

Asked if she had concerns about getting injured during World Sevens Football, which is occurring less than six weeks before England's European Championship defence begins, Clinton said: "Me and the girls spoke about it but we sort of said, we would we doing this in training, the exact same thing - probably sometimes more intense. So we said, 'Why not come here and probably get more fitness and enjoy ourselves?'"

United face Benfica and PSG on Thursday to close out their group stage, hoping to be involved in the knockout rounds on Friday. Then, attention for Clinton, Toone and Le Tissier will turn to England's final two Nations League group matches, with the Lionesses to face Portugal on May 30 before a trip to Spain to take on the world champions on June 3.