Lyon Mid-fielders Lindsey Heaps He said it is “special” to see her teammates from USWTT Emily Fox and Jenna nighswonger Make a transition and play in Europe before facing their compatriots in the Champions League on Saturday.
The piles come up against her two United States teammates on Saturday for the first time in continental football as Arsenal Lyon host in the first stage of the Champions League semifinals.
Heaps admitted that it was “exciting”, that American players were taking a step towards playing in Europe after joining Lyon in 2022 and believeing it was a challenge that European football brings to England.
“(It’s) so exciting and also very strange for me. They don’t happen much about these moments,” she said at a press conference on Tuesday. “I think this past camp I put Foxy (Emily Fox) as much crap as I could, and I just tried to put it a little bit.”
Fox moved to Arsenal in January 2024 after spending her career in North America with the Louisville race and The courage of North Carolina. Nighswonger followed her compatriot North London in January 2025, signing from NJ/NY Gotham.
“It’s really great to see her (Fox) prosperous in this environment and a team that, as I said before, I love the way Arsenal plays.
“I really respect the team in general and I see it to go and make the big move and play well and be a very impressive player for the team.
Chelsea‘with Catarina Macario -Who played with HAPS in Lyon in the years 2021-2023-A MA MA MAI MAI He also moved to England in the summer of 2023. Last time the US defender Nomi size became First signature of $ 1 millionConnection to Chelsea in January 2025.
Heaps said they believe that the challenge of European football and the attraction of the Champions League caused the influx of American players who were across the pond.
“Many things (they are tempting), but I think you generally have two very, very good leagues, but I think you play a lot of time in Ns Like me and I wanted another challenge. It was nothing against NWSL, but I wanted to play again in the Champions League.
“I wanted to play for a big club like this.
“I think the salary ceiling, in NWSL there is a limit of salary, and I think it is a continuing problem that hopefully can be changed or raised, but I think it is a factor for NWSL and for players overseas.”
Despite playing on the side of Hayes’ Emma since Fox debuted in 2018, Heaps admitted that he would not talk to any of his opponents in the accumulation of decisive games.
“I don’t know if I’m talking to her, but maybe she just nods when we get to the tunnel or see her in the field,” she said.
Heaps won the Champions League with Lyon in 2022 and was part of a group that was defeated Barcelona Last year’s final in Bilbau.
While playing experience has very advanced piles and her teammates, it is the unpredictability of the high champions of the League of Knockout Games that excite the American midfielder.
“I think it (victory and loss of the finals) gives you a little strange confidence, but you go more into these games and you know what they are, you can think that it will go in one direction and it goes the other and you have to make adjustments in the middle of the game,” she said.
“It’s almost like a tournament. You go to the World Championship, the Olympics, it’s not just as a club game or a friendly game.
“Everyone is playing differently, so I think it’s the coldest thing in tournaments like this, big tournaments and tall state games, you can expect something and get something completely different, and that’s when you see how the best teams come out and are able to adapt and play and get out of it.
“That’s why it was the greatest feeling in the world to win it and the worst feeling in the world that lost it.”
