All about perspective for miracle woman Mustaki
Too much trauma and consequential perspective has been accrued by Chloe Mustaki to dwell on a Manchester United goal coming from her deflection.
Her newly-promoted Bristol City had been frustrating WSL title contenders United at home on Sunday until Hinata Miyazawa’s speculative long-range drive diverted off the Irish international to wrongfoot goalkeeper Olivia Clark.
That 50th minute breakthrough was soon followed by Nikita Parris' finish to inflict a sixth defeat in eight on the Robins. They are rooted to the foot of the table, level with West Ham United.
If that constitutes a grim outlook for the 28-year-old, she’s not treating it as such.
This was the talented defender who captained Ireland at the U19 Euros nine years ago but within a month of returning from Norway was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
It would take until last year for the senior cap she craved to arrive, her route disrupted by chemotherapy, ACL injuries, studies in France and various other diversions such as employment in the recruitment sphere.
Also in 2022, Bristol offered her a second cut at cracking England – she’d been briefly with Charlton Athletic – and promotion and a two-year contract followed.
While she’s got a mental clock ticking in her brain, the expectations around top-flight exposure are couched in reality.
Injuries, like that suffered by Brooke Aspin on Sunday, are her best pathway to mixing it with the world’s top strikers like Sam Kerr and Vivianne Miedema.
“Sitting on the bench is probably like, in moments, a little bit harder for me than maybe if I was 21 years of age because I’ve had years of work experience that maybe I only have five years of my career left, at best,” explains the left-sided defender.
“If I had 10 years of
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