Ending Chelsea career with one final trophy was Kirby’s main focus | OneFootball

Departing Chelsea attacker Fran Kirby says that winning one more trophy was her main focus in her final weeks at the club.

The 30-year-old is leaving the South West Londoners this summer after spending nine years as a Chelsea player.

Kirby’s departure was announced a couple of weeks ago. The player admits that it has been an incredibly emotional time but the challenge of chasing one final Barclays Women’s Super League title spurred her on. Kirby achieved her target yesterday as Chelsea defeated Manchester United 6-0 at Old Trafford to secure the 2023/2024 Barclays Women’s Super League trophy.

“The last few months have been very emotional and I’ve been trying to get through one day at a time,” Kirby said when speaking to the media after her final Chelsea appearance. “For me, as a footballer, you know that these situations always happen.

“Obviously, when I was announcing it, around that time I was very emotional but at the end of the day, I just wanted to get to the end of the season and win a trophy, that became my main focus.

“For me now, it’s just to go and enjoy the moment and hopefully, in the next few years, I can win a few more trophies.”

Kirby’s farewell appearance was capped-off with a goal. The attacker came off the bench to net Chelsea’s sixth and final goal in their Old Trafford rout, a failytale moment for a club legend.

“It was really nice, it was a special moment to be able to come into the game and get a goal,” Kirby said when commenting on her final appearance.

“When you’re sitting on the bench and the girls are doing what they’re doing on the pitch, you sit there and go ‘wow’, you’re 4-0 up at half-time and you can’t ask for more. The whole performance was amazing.”

Chelsea were backed by around 3,500 fans at Old Trafford and every single one of them were delighted to see Kirby celebrate her special moment. The player went on to praise The Blues faithful for their backing both this season and over the years.

She said “They were incredible, they’ve been incredible all season. Every season I’ve been here, it’s been magical with them. The support they’ve given us this year; I’d imagine we haven’t made life very easy for them with some performances and results but they’ve stuck by us and today, they were absolutely incredible. They were probably one of the main reasons why we were able to put on the performance that we did.”

Kirby leaves Chelsea having scored 116 goals in 207 games in all competitions for the club. The player has won 16 domestic trophies with The Blues.