It was just before Reiten was to take a Christmas break that she was told to meet at the Chelsea boss’s office. Emma Hayes had simply gotten tired of Reiten scoring so rarely. Before Christmas, the Norwegian national team player had only found the net masks once. – Playing in Chelsea … There is a lot of pressure and it is not always as easy, she says. She has also spent time adapting to her new position as a wingback. – I feel I have grown into the role and found out more about it. So overall, I am happy with the season, but at the same time there is a little difference between December and after December, she says. HAPPY DUO: Reiten and Mjelde were extremely relieved that the league gold was secured after a somewhat chaotic season. – We are the best when it really matters, Mjelde believes. Photo: Roy Kenneth Sydnes Jacobsen / news Award-winning news meets Reiten and teammate Maren Mjelde at home in Cobham, a village 30 km southwest of London. At this time, in early May, they are both a little tired after a long season, but not least after the victory party the night before. With the help of an important Reiten goal in the last round of the series against Manchester United, Chelsea secured their third straight league gold. Reiten also received the award for player of the year from the supporters, and got a place on this year’s team in the super league. Few had probably imagined it midway through the season. Alvorspraten At that time, the Chelsea squad was strongly affected by injuries and Arsenal had a gap of four points on the table. – We have messed up a bit, and have had a lot of injuries and players who are not available. And when we came back in January, we wondered if we had to have a goalkeeper as an outside player to get a third change. There has been chaos at times, she admits. Top scorer Sam Kerr was at the national team gathering with Australia in January, and Fran Kirby, who has provided many goal points, was out with illness. – So it was kind of like that now someone else had to step up. IN SCORING FORM: Reiten ended the Chelsea season by scoring goals. Will she continue the good scoring form in the European Championships for the national team? Photo: PETER CZIBORRA / Reuters Reiten was one of them, something she was clearly told about. – Emma took me into the office and said “you have to score more goals, you have to stand for more goals”, says the 27-year-old and continues: – It is quite honest and open conversations, so you get to hear it. Not everyone else gets to hear it then, but these are exactly the kind of concrete messages you need to get from time to time. Loosened Because after the serious talk with the coach, it really loosened up for the Norwegian player. In the last half of the season, she has scored nine times from her wingback position. – There have been some goals, yes, she grins. – But as I usually say, it is not so important who scores the goals just someone does it, but it’s fun somehow. SCORED TWO: National team manager Martin Sjögren says he is happy Reiten has stepped up before the European Championships. Photo: MATHILDA AHLBERG / BILDBYRÅN And now it has also loosened up on the national team. Because in the European Championship general test against Denmark on Wednesday, Reiten played with great confidence and scored both the Norwegian goals. – I see that Guro has really taken hold after Christmas, especially. I think she has had a very good season overall, but it is after Christmas that she has started to score a lot of goals. She has done it for Chelsea, and there is no reason why she should not do it here for the national team as well, says Chelsea teammate and national team captain Maren Mjelde. Guro Reiten and the Norwegian national team will play their first match in the European Championship against Northern Ireland on Thursday 7 July. The European Championship matches from England are shown on news and TV 2, and can be heard on news Sport.
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