‘It’s an opportunity’ – Manchester City’s MacIver looks ahead to huge Manchester derby | OneFootball

Manchester City goalkeeper Sandy MacIver says that this weekend’s Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium is a good opportunity to sell the women’s team to a new audience.

More than 40,000 fans are expected to fill the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, a record crowd for a Manchester City women’s team fixture on home soil.

When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of the match, MacIver said that the game presents a great opportunity to win the support of new fans.

“Any time playing in front of the fans, it is an opportunity,” MacIver said. “This time around at the Etihad with the World Cup going on, hopefully, it means that we can entice more people to our game, we can put on a good show and then retain some of those fans.

“We’ve seen attendances in the WSL go up, not just in our games but also in the league. Hopefully, with the United fans as well, it’ll create a real good atmosphere.”

Manchester United go into the game three points ahead of The Cityzens in the Barclays Women’s Super League table. MacIver admits that The Red Devils have had a good start but she believes that Manchester City will put up a real fight.

She said “The league table doesn’t lie, they’ve had a good start to the season, they’ve got a good squad of players. I think that is important to the league in terms of the competitiveness and it is good for us because there are no easy games and United are another team that are going to make challenging for the title and the Champions League so much harder.

“United have a good squad but so do we and I think it’ll be a good game.”

Tickets for this Sunday’s Manchester derby remain on-sale. Fans can purchase their tickets by clicking here.