'Crazy times' - England 'keeper Mary Earps reflects on Bristol Academy spell and Barcelona win

England goalkeeper Mary Earps has reflected on her time with Bristol Academy admitting the Vixens' Champions League win over Barcelona was a "crazy" part of her early career.

The now 31-year-old spent two seasons with Bristol Academy, now Bristol City, early on in her playing career back in 2014 and 2015 and played a important role both in the WSL and in the Reds' run to the Champions League quarter-finals.

Bristol Academy pulled off an impressive 1-0 away win over the then-Spanish champions, with Marta Corredera's first-half own goal enough to give the Vixens a one-goal advantage heading into the home leg at Ashton Gate.

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Barcelona levelled the tie late in the first half in BS3 as Vicky Losada's deflected effort beat Earps in the Bristol net to leave the result hanging in the balance once again. However, Nikki Watts' late penalty was enough to ensure David Edmonson's side booked their place in the quarter-finals where they were eventually knocked out by Frankfurt.

Although Earps has since gone on to star for Manchester United and Paris Saint Germain while also winning the Euros with England since leaving the South West, the Three Lions 'keeper remembers her time with the Vixens fondly.

“Bristol City? Oh, my days that is a throwback," Earps told the Away Days YouTube channel. "I had so many amazing memories when I was at Bristol. Obviously, it wasn’t Bristol City when I played, it was Bristol Academy but I feel like that was my first proper Champions League experience there.

"I got my Champions League debut for Birmingham for like 20 minutes, but we got to the quarter-finals with Bristol. We beat Barcelona which was just crazy. Crazy times. Barcelona are obviously an incredible team now and were still early on their journey back then but I think we were definitely still the underdogs.

"I can’t remember how many shots they had in that game and how much possession but it was ridiculous. Just chasing shadows the whole game and thankfully I don’t have to run as much but I was still exhausted."

While Bristol City Women have made Ashton Gate their permanent home in recent seasons under the management of both Steve Kirby and Lauren Smith, during Earps' time with the club they played their home games at the Stoke Gifford Stadium, with trips to BS3 only arranged for the biggest fixtures.

Although it has become commonplace for Women's football to now be played at major grounds such as Wembley, the Emirates and Stamford Bridge, the opportunity to play against one of the biggest teams in World Football at Ashton Gate wasn't wasted on Earps.

"We played it at Ashton Gate as well and it was almost like playing at major stadiums wasn’t common back then so that was a big thing," the Lioness' goalkeeper admitted. "Playing in the Champions League was a big thing and playing against an incredible team so it’s always a super fond memory of my coming through days I suppose.”

Earps left Bristol Academy at the conclusion of the 2015 campaign when the Vixens were relegated from the Women's Super League and had spells at both Reading and VfL Wolfsburg before spending four years with Manchester United.

Although Bristol City Women haven't been able to compete in the Champions League since their famous win over Barcelona, Kirby's side are well in the race for promotion back to the Women's Super League this season, having been relegated under the management of Smith last time out.

City currently sit third in the Championship table, two points adrift of table-toppers Birmingham City and a comfortable 13 points away from the relegation zone after nine matches.

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