De Graaf Hoping To Make History With LCFC Women

- LCFC Women face Bristol City at Twerton Park in the Continental Tyres League Cup Semi-Finals on Wednesday (7:30pm kick-off)
- The Foxes are currently top of the FA Women's Championship, while Bristol City are bottom in the top tier of women's football
- Defender Esmee De Graaf spoke to the media on Tuesday, outlining City's approach to the clash
- The Netherlands international discussed the excitement which is growing within the squad

The Foxes, top of of the FA Women's Championship, take on the Robins, bottom of the Barclays Women's Super League, hoping to become the first second-tier side to ever reach the final.

De Graaf, who joined the Club from West Ham United last summer, where she helped the Hammers reach the 2019 Women's FA Cup Final, has been a valuable member of the squad in 2020/21.

The versatile Netherlands international, who has been deployed mostly in defence for Leicester, hopes her experience in cup competitions can help the side at Twerton Park on Wednesday.

"It’s just cool to be here," the 23-year-old Bunschoten-Spakenburg-born defender said. "With West Ham, we reached the FA Cup Final at Wembley, which was also a great experience.

"I hope the girls understand how important it is to be in a final. A final is something different. Everyone wants to be in a final and win a final.

"I’m 23 years-old and I feel quite old in this team because we do have a lot of young girls, but they’ve played for England youth teams and stuff like that, so they know how to play in big games.

"I was injured for the FA Cup Final, but still, to be there, to know what it’s like, it was so cool. I try to help the girls out and explain how important this game is, but we need to win it first.

"If we win, we’d be the first Championship team to make the final, we’d be making history. If we can reach a final, potentially, that would be such an amazing achievement for the Club."

De Graaf provided an insight into the depth of City's preparations for the clash, outlining how the past fortnight has been spent almost exclusively analysing the Robins' threats.

"We know what we’re doing," she continued. "We’re not going to change a lot for the game. We may tweak a few bits and bobs, like we do for every game, but we’re in good momentum.

"We are top of the Championship and they are bottom of the WSL, so it’ll be an interesting game. I still think we are the underdogs.

"They have to perform, while it’s nice if we perform. We know what their weaknesses are, so we’ll try to hit them there. We’ve worked on it for two weeks now.

"We’ve watched every single clip of Bristol. We know what we want to do against them and hopefully it works out for us."

All times GMT.