Kerstin Casparij on the Return of European Nights, Taking Games “Step-By-Step” and City’s Big Test Against Real Madrid.
English Champions Manchester City are back on the continental stage in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, which means so is Dutch fullback Kerstin Casparij coming off the back of the stellar 2025/26 campaign.
She had the most assists in the WSL last season, and her command on the pitch extends to off it too. As vice-captain, her leadership will be an important part of sailing Manchester City into largely uncontested waters, balancing league and UWCL football. Stating last year that she “loves making connections with others” her leadership style is both personal and honest, relentless on the pitch and championing being herself off it.
She didn’t have the start she would have wanted on their European tour, scoring a difficult own goal for Bayern Munich to get their second of the game, but a comeback and leveler by new German signing Carlotta Wamser ended the tie 2-2. City are the first English club not to lose to Bayern Munich away in the UWCL but Casparij will want to rewrite her mistake on opening night, as they welcome Real Madrid to Manchester for a Thursday night under the lights at the Joie Stadium.
Kerstin Casparij sat down with the press to preview this exciting match up between two European greats, Manchester City getting ready to go for more as the league phase ramps up.
A Blockbuster European Test
It’s been four years since Las Blancas did the double over City in the 2022/2023 UWCL qualifying round during Casparij’s first season in sky blue. She didn’t feature in either of those games, but Kerstin is now a regular in this City team, playing over 50 games in her first two seasons and impressing on the flank, known for her attacking vision and defensive tenacity.
Manchester City last played continental football in 2024/25, beating that season's runners up Barcelona in the then group stage but a quarter final loss to Chelsea and a 4th place finish in the league during a transitional season, saw them miss out on last years European charge.
Real Madrid are much more seasoned Champions League opposition, second in Liga F every year they have featured, Las Blancas exiting at the quarter final stage in the last two campaigns, and the group stage the two campaigns before that.
This summer was all change for the side, breaking the bank to secure the signature of sought after Swedish striker Felicia Schröder and breaking the German transfer record for Janou Levels, one of Casparij’s international counterparts. On the competition, Kerstin is excited to face such exciting talent, and some familiar faces too.
“They are an incredible team. For me coming up against the likes of Linda Caicedo, she's an incredible player, so definitely I've been watching her closely. But especially across their front line, they are incredible. I'm doing my homework but I'm really excited to play against her [Caicedo] and I think she's an exciting player. She's still so young and doing so well for a club like Madrid is impressive. So I'm very much looking forward to it.
I'm really excited to obviously see Lineth [Beerensteyn], my Dutch teammate, Lotte Keukelaar, who's been doing well for them as well, so I'm really excited to see them.”
On the attacking challenges a team like Madrid can pose, Casparij is confident that the whole team can come together to finish the first UWCL block strong. Madrid started their group stage with a goal from Schröder within 2 minutes, but a struggling defense meant PSG made it level.
“I think in the likes of Real Madrid, they're obviously a really fast-paced team. I think that is something that definitely, for us, is going to be really important. I think their front lines want to create a lot, are very quick, and are good on the ball. They've got full-backs wanting to join in. So winning that physical fight first and foremost is the most important part and being able to deliver that kind of intensity. A lot of times when we manage to do that, the football itself will come and we tend to do really well.”
To the dedicated football fan Real Madrid vs Manchester City is a blockbuster, regular event. The men’s sides are at the top of the game and face each other consistently, but for the women this match up isn’t as common. Whilst City will hope that this season can restore their regular place in the UWCL, Kerstin was asked about the notoriety of this fixture in the football calendar, and was excited to be bringing the clash to the women's game, with completely different teams than before.
“I didn't think about it until just now. So it is a thing that they face each other every single year. So I have seen the memes about it. Obviously, we did play them in my first season. Unfortunately, we missed out in Champions League because of them. So yeah, I'm excited to face them and hopefully come our way with three points, which will be nice. I think both our teams look completely different now, which in itself is quite fun to see. We have definitely improved and I'm very excited to see how we will do in this game.”
Ambitions for their Nights Under the Lights
Casparij is excited to be playing competitive European football again, embracing the challenges and wanting to play against, and showcase, the very best of women's football in Manchester.
“I love playing as many games as possible. I think that's the big thing. It's something I really missed last year and I'm so happy we are doing this year. I also think having European nights in the Joie Stadium with our fans under the lights, as they would say, are really special and it's just a unique atmosphere and it's something that I just love to do and I get a lot of energy from them.”
Whilst Real Madrid are in the competition regularly, Manchester City have struggled in the UWCL in recent seasons, either not featuring or going out at the quarter final stage. This won’t be to City’s disadvantage however. A united team of champions and 22 senior internationals with international competition experience, topping the most competitive women's league in the world gives the Citizens all the confidence they will need facing off in Europe once more.
“You play incredible clubs all the time and obviously, within the league, we have a lot of incredible clubs and a lot of difficult teams. For our national teams, we've played big, big games and we've had to step up on big occasions. So it's nice to get a bit more of that under our belt as a player. But I would say it's nothing new to us as a team and to us as players.”
Struggling in their last UEFA Women’s Champions League season with manager changes and squad overloads, Casparij wants to take every game as it comes in order to reach their ambitions.
“I think the big aim for us is to be able to compete in every single competition for as long as we can. Obviously, it's our first time playing a league phase, which is not easy. We've got a lot of incredible teams to play. So, our first objective will be to go through to the knockout rounds, and we'll see how we get on from there.”
“I think we don't necessarily put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Obviously, we won the league last year, but this is a new season and nothing is guaranteed and nothing will stay the same for long, which is the fun thing about football as well. So we focus very much on the here and now and definitely going far in Champions League is an objective for us. It's the only trophy I think we haven't won yet and it's something that we definitely want to win. But by wanting to do it, you have to take it game by game and step by step. And like I said, going through to the knockout is the first step for us to hopefully get the best result possible this season.”
Title Winning Manager at the Helm
This modern City team may not be used to European nights but their manager certainly is. Winning the league in his first season at the club, Andrée Jerglertz won the UWCL in 2004 with Swedish side Umeå and with him as their leader City will hope to come closer to the only trophy that has eluded them.
“I think he means a lot to us as a team. I think it's obviously his job to make us tick and he's been doing a great job at that exactly. He's very important for us and he comes up with our game plans and we completely trust him and follow his game plans. So in that regard, he is invaluable to us as a team.”
On the prospect of going 4 points up against their two toughest opposition in the league phase, Casparij hopes to take their perfect WSL start with them and use recent challenges to fuel a winning result in Manchester.
“I think we feel confident. We've been doing really well recently, getting results in, which is the most important part. I think the prep for this is like any other game. We try to approach different games the same way and it doesn't matter whether we play Real Madrid at home or Charlton away and we try and come up with as good of a game plan as we can. I'm so excited to go up against Real Madrid. I think they're an exciting team. I think it will hopefully be a really exciting match.”
Manchester City face their second European test against second in Liga F Real Madrid on Thursday 1st of October at 8pm BST. Their next block of UWCL fixtures begin against PSG back at the Joie Stadium on October 29th. You can find out more about Manchester City’s journey, and the competition as a whole, here: https://wheretowatch.uefa.com/