Johanna Rytting Kaneryd: How Chelsea’s ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ found her strength | OneFootball

The word “invincible” has different meanings for different people. For most at Chelsea, though, it is completing an unbeaten domestic season by winning the treble at Wembley, in the Women’s FA Cup final on Sunday. For Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, the club’s speedy, direct winger, the feeling of “invincibility” is a little like controlling the main character in a video game, whirring through levels in a blue flash and dodging enemies in the pursuit of golden rings. A bit like Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic, to be fair, would be a pretty good winger, too. It’s why Rytting Kaneryd’s Chelsea and Sweden international teammate Zecira Musovic started calling her by that nickname earlier this season, when the 28-year-old was tearing through the Women’s Super League and emerging as a key player under Sonia Bompastor. There was confidence from the opening game, as Rytting Kaneryd scored a stunning long-range goal in Bompastor’s first win, a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa.

Chelsea didn’t look back, winning their first nine games in the Women’s Super League (WSL), the first 14 in all competitions. In the autumn, Rytting Kaneryd scored a goal of the season contender, too, a flying volley on the run as part of a brace in the 5-2 victory over Tottenham. If Chelsea’s success this season was built on the seamless transition between Emma Hayes and Bompastor, Rytting Kaneryd was pivotal to them hitting the ground running.

Talk to anyone around Chelsea and they will suggest that the second half of the season has been more difficult. “It’s been up and downs,” Rytting Kaneryd admits. The defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals still stings, but they have passed every other challenge: winning the League Cup, going unbeaten in the WSL, and reaching another FA Cup final where they will play Manchester United for the second time in three seasons.

For Rytting Kaneryd, there has been an extra incentive behind their return to Wembley. Two years ago, when Chelsea beat United 1-0, she was an unused substitute. When Sam Kerr put Chelsea ahead late on, Hayes turned to defenders to see out their lead. Rytting Kaneryd had featured in most of Chelsea’s season, her first at the club, but not the FA Cup final.

It hurt, of course it did. “I really want to play but at the same time you can’t put your own emotions before the team,” Rytting Kaneryd says. But she can reflect on how she used that disappointment to become a key part of Chelsea’s success. “Looking back at it, I grew a lot as a player and as a person as well,” she says. “I managed to find my strength somehow. I didn’t think I was patient, not as a player or a person, but I managed to work on that that season.”

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Rytting Kaneryd on the 2023 final: ‘I really want to play but at the same time you can’t put your own emotions before the team’ (Getty)

The arrival of Bompastor following the departure of Hayes was another important moment. Rytting Kaneryd was left enthused by her first individual meeting with the French coach and her assistant Camille Abily. They outlined how they wanted Chelsea to be a fast, powerful team in attacking transitions and explained how they wanted to utilise Rytting Kaneryd’s strengths. “I’m at my best when I play direct,” she says. “Running in behind, driving with speed.”

Rytting Kaneryd knew this already, but Bompastor wanted to see more of it. The message was to be herself, for the team. “I like one-on-ones, I like to take risks,” Rytting Kaneryd says. “Of course I’m not always going to succeed with that, but if I succeed four times out of 10, those four times can be a goal or assist, and that’s maybe enough to win a game. It’s all about having that confidence.”

It’s easy to see why Rytting Kaneryd, who is out of contract at the end of the season but will hold talks with the club after the FA Cup final, fits so well within Bompastor’s system. In Sweden, Rytting Kaneryd grew up playing football with her twin brother Marcus on the pitch outside their house. But while he would practice free-kicks at the end of their sessions, she would run with the ball. “His touch is amazing, I wish I did more of that, but I was just sprinting, sprinting, sprinting,” she says. “I always loved to run and that’s one of my biggest strengths now.”

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Rytting Kaneryd: ‘I know I’m at my best when I play direct ... driving with speed’ (Getty)

It has become one of Chelsea’s biggest strengths, too. Bompastor’s team can overrun their opponents and the statement performance of their campaign - the Champions League quarter-final comeback against Manchester City - was an illustration of what they can be like when everything clicks. “The way we fought, the way we played, the way we created chances…” Rytting Kaneryd says. “It was like, OK, this is Chelsea, this is the way we want to play.”

For a relentless team, one final objective awaits. Wembley will be their 40th game of the season. Of the 29 they have played domestically, in the WSL, League Cup and FA Cup, Chelsea have won 26, drawn three and lost none. As Chelsea chase down their own records, an “invincible” treble would crown a remarkable season.

Since January, Chelsea have won six of those games by scoring after the 80th minute, including in the FA Cup semi-final win over Liverpool and on the final weekend of the season, against the same opposition, to break the WSL’s points record. The sense of inevitability that Chelsea would score a late winner, that feeling of the “mentality monsters”, is so deeply embedded that what Rytting Kaneryd says next does not even sound like a cliche.

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Rytting Kaneryd celebrates with Aggie Beever Jones after the 1-0 win over Liverpool that sealed their unbeaten WSL season (The FA via Getty Images)

“It’s a weird feeling not to be stressed. We just knew we were going to score, we just knew it,” Rytting Kaneryd says. “If you play for Chelsea, it's about winning. It’s a culture, this year we always somehow find a way.” Bompastor demands nothing less, admitting herself that she does not let her players “breathe”. Even as Chelsea won the league with a 1-0 victory at Manchester United, she was not happy with their performance. “We're never, ever satisfied,” Kaneryd says.

Now Chelsea and United will meet again. It’s been a one-sided rivalry in recent years, though Chelsea still think about the only time they have lost to United, their defeat in last season’s FA Cup semi-finals. Rytting Kaneryd nods aggressively when asked if that game is still on her mind. “I like using this, 100 per cent,” she says. “We have a new opportunity this year, to end this season on a high. It would mean the world to finish the season with the FA Cup trophy. That would be something super special.”