Moving out and living on my own was a big thing, but to be in a different country with different coaches and a different mentality changed me as a person, as a player, the way I think about things and the way I see people.
— Lucy Bronze
Everyone who knows me knows that I always eat cake. My nutritionist hates it, but I just tell her I like to eat it, and she's not going to stop me!
I'm not scared of snakes, spiders, flying... nothing scares me apart from needles. I just hate them. Which is quite funny because I've had four knee operations, and I've got tattoos, so I've seen a few needles in my time.
I've had four knee surgeries in my career. I just don't do small injuries. The highs of winning are always balanced out by the lows of being injured and missing games. There was a time when I was out for nearly a year, having already been out for six months with another surgery before that.
When I signed for Lyon, I pictured myself lifting the Champions League trophy, and I don't think that has ever changed.
From my family, my mum, auntie and nan were all strong women and why I am who I am today.
The standard across Europe is set by Lyon. We're so far ahead of so many teams. In training every day it's 11 internationals v 11 internationals, so I'm having to defend against the world's best strikers every day.
I moved to Liverpool in 2012, and they were really ambitious, bringing in top players. In 2013, we beat Arsenal - who seemed invincible - 4-0. It was the shock of the century.
I turned up for my first day training with England Under-19s super excited, and I just happened to bang my knee on the floor, and it just blew up. It turned out that I'd completely snapped it in half.
At Lyon, there's 20 other superstars there - I'm not the best player there. I'm not the best player at England.
When I went to my first FA Cup final, we had to pack bags in Tesco to raise enough money for a bus to London. Now, I own a house.
The players in the England team, the majority of us didn't play more than twice a week until we were 20. The younger girls are training more than that now, so in 10 years' time, when they take over from us, the quality will be so much higher. That's what I'd like to see.
You cannot win a game of football on your own; it's about the entire squad working together to achieve something. That's how football works: it has always been about the group, not the individual.
I stay somewhere for a couple of years and then think, 'What next?' I find it easier to challenge myself by going to different clubs, environments, and playing with different players.
It's always lovely to win trophies, have nice things said about you, and be nominated for individual awards. But I feel I can give more - a lot more - to both Lyon and England, and that is definitely my focus.
I wanna play until I am 45 if my body will let me. After football, I have no idea.
My father is Portuguese, and in Portugal, it is traditional to take your mother's maiden name as a middle name. My mum is called Tough.
I think it's good that the womens' game is being pushed, and maybe the men can look at our game every now and then and learn something from the way we approach the game.
I've met lots of footballers like Alan Shearer, David Beckham, and Steven Gerrard. I don't really get starstruck because I just think they're another footballer like me; they just get paid a lot more.
The one thing in the world that I can't do without is my glasses. I don't really care about my laptop, I never answer my phone, and I don't care about trainers and stuff. But I'm pretty blind without my glasses or contact lenses.
I've got a little vegetable patch in my garden. I moved from a city apartment into a house this year and needed something to do outside football.
I think my level of cuisine was pretty good even before I came to France, but it's the wine here that's really improved my palette - when I have it, anyway. It's meant to be good for you, right?
I was OK at tennis - good enough to beat Serena Williams, definitely... But no, I don't really like playing solo sport,s so I don't think I could have got to the top. I was just decent. Maths is my true calling in life, which is bizarre.
It's a rite of passage for all women to make sure the next generation is in a better place than you. I will play my part.
At Sunderland, our kit was five times too big, and we got the local bus to games; in America, I got bags of Nike kit, flew to away games, and played in front of thousands of fans. It opened my eyes to what women's football could - and should - be.
There were three football fields next door to my house. I used to walk down to the boys' team, but eventually, I was told I was going to have to stop playing because I was a girl.
I played with the likes of Kelly Smith, Rachel Yankey, and Fara Williams - all these great players. Everybody knew who they were, and I was turning into one of these girls who were always my heroes.
I didn't dream of joining Man City as a professional one day, or representing England, because I didn't know that was even possible.
You're not best friends with someone just because you work with them, but you have to be able to at least work together, or there is no point.
Football is something I would never give up on, whether I ended up playing professional or in a Sunday league team.
I just want to challenge myself all the time.
I started on the phones, taking orders, and then I did the toppings, making the pizzas, cutting and boxing them - everything, really.
I didn't get paid enough money really to live properly, sleeping on people's sofas and stuff, but that was the moment when I thought, 'I just wanna play football professionally; whether I get paid 10 euros or 10,000 euros, I just wanna play.'
For England, I play centre-half. I enjoy it. You face all the best strikers in the world. I enjoy the challenge.
I don't call myself a women's footballer; I say I'm a footballer.
I like where I lived in Alnwick; I always tell people about it. There's so much to do there, even though it's so small and quaint.
If I could, I'd change the way I came up through the football ranks. I'd love to have had an academy life the way the boys have it. I think female footballers would be so much better for having that opportunity, and we'd be more effective because we would be better players.
I thought I was going to stay at City, but when a team like Lyon comes in for you, I think I'd have regretted it if I had said no to them. Not just because of making finals, but because of the players I get to play with every single day.
I played in the 2015 World Cup. I scored in two games; we got to the semi-finals and eventually ended up getting the bronze medal. That was a big turning point in my career, personally, and for English women's football, too.
We want to change the way people think about England teams. At the men's tournaments, we haven't exceeded expectations, and it's the same with the women's. If we can change that, it could have a knock-on effect, even for the men's team.
I made my England debut against Japan in 2013. Hope Powell, our manager at the time, always demanded the best. She had quite a stern approach... She'd look at you over her glasses sometimes.
When I'm playing football, it's what I know; it's what I'm good at. The spotlight is not just on you: you're with 10 of your team-mates. I could have done other sports, like tennis and athletics, but I like being part of a team where it's not just about you; it's about everybody.
I can't do tricks, but I absolutely loved trying, and one of my fondest memories growing up was trying to imitate Ronaldinho and do his dance.
I want to go back to school, get my master's, and do the accountancy thing at last. You know, get back to the dream. The real dream, that is, not the football dream.
It's probably the wrong way round, I know, but I just love maths and doing equations. When I was a kid, I was really good at it, so when I was seven, I asked my mum what job lets you do maths and pays you for it. She said accountancy, and that was it. I was dead set.
We are footballers, so if you've got to play with someone, you've got to play with them. What happens off the pitch, well, you can't get on with everyone you work with.
I've done quite a bit in England. I've won the majority of trophies and awards that there is to win, apart from top goalscorer... which is hard as a defender.
I don't feel like congratulating myself, because I know there's still a lot of room for improvement.
I never had a problem with the people I was close to because I was playing football with them, and they knew I could play. It didn't matter that I was a girl.
When I first signed a contract with a women's team, my contract stated that if I played, I would get 100 pounds, and if I didn't play, it would be zero.
