Female participants from Dixons Brooklands Academy in Wythenshawe were pleased to welcome Lisa Naalsund and Mared Griffiths into their session earlier this month.

The Reds pair visited the school in Wythenshawe, which has been partnered with Manchester United Foundation for almost two decades, to join a series of football activities and share advice on leadership with a group of student sport leaders.

That included taking part in matches with the young people, when Mared joked: “I nutmegged Lisa and got a goal and an assist, so that wasn’t too bad!”

Mared and Lisa also joined a question and answer session with the group of pupils, sharing stories of their careers so far and encouraging the young people to continue pursuing their goals and follow their dreams.

“It’s really important work that the Foundation does,” said Lisa. “I spoke to one girl who had started playing football because she saw women playing on TV, which is really inspiring. Coming here to see community and togetherness is brilliant.”

Mared added: “We were getting involved in the games and it was really nice to see how the kids progressed from the start of the session to the end. I enjoyed being part of that.”

One of the students, Angel, a regular at United Women fixtures, said: “It’s meant a lot that the players have visited us. All the fans have dreams to meet the players, and it’s nice to actually do that and meet the people who you watch all the time. They were really nice and inspiring.”

Her class-mate, Clem, added: “I think it will help me a lot in the future to keep following my dreams and to do what I want to do.”

Another pupil, Alisha, felt meeting Lisa and Mared would motivate her to start playing: “I used to play football but then I stopped for a bit. I’m just getting back into it and this will help me a lot.”