Good evening and welcome to the Women’s Champions League live coverage, as Manchester United take on Paris St-Germain in a match that will make history, whether or not Mary Earps is in the starting XI.
It is the first time the women will play a European game at Old Trafford, but all eyes will be on the goalkeeper, who has made headlines with statements in her recent book, All In: Football, Life and Learning to be Unapolagetically Me.
In the book, Earps discussed her retirement from England just a few weeks before Euro 2025 and her relationship with her replacement Hannah Hampton, as well as Sarina Wiegman.
Earps has since backtracked on comments made in the book, saying she did not mean to “tear anyone down”, despite describing Hampton as “disruptive and unreliable” during Euro 2022.
Hampton, who Earps describes in the book mainly as her “competitor” has been defended by her club manager Sonia Bompastor and fans alike.
For the team, they have started their Champions League campaign in good form, winning their first two matches against Norway’s SK Brann and Valerenga.
But for Earps it will be her first time returning to Manchester United for 501 days, having made 125 appearances for the club.
She spent five years with the club, before leaving for PSG with a barbed comment that the club did not “align with the timing” of where Earps was at in her career – although it was the week after it was announced the women’s team would be moved into a temporary facility while the men’s was being redeveloped.
After Trent Alexander-Arnold’s reception on his return to Anfield, Earps told the BBC: “I’m probably expecting a little booing. I hope it’s a little bit but it might be a lot.”
Her reception remains to be seen, but Earps was a popular figure at Manchester United – to such an extent that a mural was painted in the city of her.
