Chelsea take on Manchester United in the Women’s FA Cup final this afternoon with the target completing a historic treble in Sonia Bompastor’s first season in charge.

It would also provide the perfect finale to Bronze’s maiden year in blue. The defender has been a regular in Bompastor’s side, adding experience and guile at the back. She even popped up with the goal against today’s opponents Man United that secured us the WSL title last month.

Bronze has great pedigree in the women’s game and her journey has contained its fair share of FA Cup highlights. A few months shy of her 18th birthday, she was named player of the match in the 2009 final at Pride Park, as Premier League Northern Division side Sunderland put up a great fight against perennial winners Arsenal.

Sunderland narrowly lost 2-1, but Bronze would get her hands on the trophy in the colours of Man City in 2017 and 2020. She opened the scoring in the first of those finals at Wembley, a stadium she holds so close to her heart. It was there, of course, that England won Euro 2022.

‘Just playing at Wembley is amazing, but lifting trophies there, there’s not another feeling like it,’ Bronze tells us.

‘Playing at big stadiums was something I dreamed of when I was young. The Women’s FA Cup final didn’t use to be at Wembley, and I remember the first years they started to change it and put it at Wembley. It was the most exciting thing on earth, because it’s one of the best stadiums in the world.

‘I think everybody played harder to get to Wembley than they did to try to win the league because in those days we weren’t playing in big stadiums regularly.

‘Obviously as English players you feel like that, but it was the same with the foreign players because it’s such an iconic stadium. Even now, unless you’re an English player or you play against England, you don’t often get the opportunity. Everybody knows what a big deal it is to play at Wembley.

‘The FA Cup is the first final I ever played in when I was 17, so it’s a cup I really adore,’ adds Lucy.

‘It’s something special to me. It’s an amazing occasion to be a part of. For a domestic cup trophy, it has to be one of the best in the world.’

If Bronze and her Chelsea team-mates do get their hands on more silverware at Wembley this afternoon, it would affirm the Blues’ dominance domestically.

Bronze has been no stranger to success throughout a glittering career, and so she is as well placed as anyone to tell us exactly what it takes to scale the heights Chelsea can today.

‘You need to be adaptable,’ she says.

‘Individually, you might need to play in different positions or in a different shape, or be ready to come on. That’s the same for everyone. The team has to be able to adapt every week.

‘We haven’t played the same 11 players the entire season. At different parts of the season each player was firing and dragging the team through. At different moments, different people stood up. That’s what it takes to win a league and to dominate across several competitions. That’s what we’ve had this year.

‘To win a treble would be amazing,’ Bronze concludes.

‘It would show the dominance we’ve had this season. The league title has gone under the radar a little bit because it was done and dusted early on, but it was an amazing feat what we did. To win the FA Cup would top it off, and to have the treble would be amazing.’