Bright and her team-mates are currently in Spain preparing to begin our Women’s Champions League campaign away to Real Madrid, an opponent we also met in last season’s group stage.

Having reached the semi-finals of the competition in 2022/23, falling just shy of our best-ever performance, when we made the final in 2021, the target for the Blues this season is to complete our European journey by going all the way and lifting the one piece of silverware still missing from Chelsea Women’s trophy cabinet.

That was clear when Bright was asked in the build-up to the match in Madrid how much this competition and the chance to win it means to her and the rest of the squad.

‘I think it’s everything,’ she said. ‘I think that’s why players come to Chelsea, a top team and a club that’s very important to everyone, that stands for women, that represents women, and we want to be a dominant force in any competition that we take part in.

‘I think you’ve seen the special performances that come out of the Champions League games and it’s a trophy that we don’t have, but it’s about going game-by-game and everyone’s switched on and ready for the challenges ahead.

‘It’s been a target every season. We’ve been very open about how important it is for us to keep progressing in the competition, but also our aim and dream is to win it. That goes hand-in-hand with being a Chelsea player and representing the club. The excitement is the same as any season.

‘It’s certainly a competition that we’re prepared for and every single day we work towards it. At this club we always look to develop and improve and season-by-season we want to be again a dominant force. We’re just really excited for the campaign to start now.’

There is also an added incentive to end our wait to be crowned European champions this season. We have won every other trophy going under the stewardship of manager Emma Hayes, with just the Champions League eluding us.

With that in mind, it is not lost on the team that should we reach the final in Bilbao, it would be the last game of Hayes’ long and hugely successful tenure, before she departs Chelsea at the end of the season.

There’s no doubt that saying goodbye by completing the club’s clean sweep of silverware in her final match would be the fairytale ending, but our manager wouldn’t have been so successful here if she allowed her players to get caught up in things like that.

‘I’d be lying if I said we didn’t want to’ admitted Bright. ‘Knowing Emma, she wants us to do everything the same, regardless of her departure. That’s the mentality and the values that she’s installed in all of us as players and at the club.

'So for us everything remains the same. If we act any different I’m sure I’ll get a battering from her. We know to be focused, we know that it’s game by game, we know we’ve got to go out there and perform first and foremost and don’t look too far ahead.

‘The way we tackle any hurdle or anything that we go through, it’s the mentality to get straight back to the next game, get on the training pitch, do what we do best and put in the graft on the pitch. For me, actions sometimes speaker louder than words, so for me with the group it’s leading by example.

'We’ve got a great manager who’s prepared us and shown us how to tackle these hard moments, not only in football but in life as well. We’re always remaining focused on what’s next.’

‘She’s a mentor, a coach, a friend, a life coach. It’s more than just football playing under her. That’s probably been the biggest thing for me, while taking our game to the next level season-on-season. I think it’s really special if you can play under a manager for so long where you’ve got that relationship where you’re constantly thriving. For me that’s very rare.

‘That’s why I have a huge amount of respect for Em and the club and I just feel privileged to have played under her for so long. Everyone’s gutted but really proud and grateful for everything that we’ve achieved. But we’ve got a full season ahead and the Champions League, so that’s where our heads are at.’