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Ahead of Manchester United’s season opener against London City Lionesses on Friday, Jayde Riviere spoke exclusively at the club’s media day. The full-back reflected on her personal aims for the campaign, the experience of playing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, and the challenge of coming back from injury setbacks.

The 25-year-old defender is edging closer to a century of appearances for the Reds and wants to turn last season’s frustration into motivation as the new Women’s Super League campaign begins.

After a season that included United’s first appearance in the Champions League and a League Cup final, there was disappointment among supporters when the side ended up fourth in the table. With no European football this season, Riviere is aiming to take on a bigger role both on the pitch and away from it.

The full-back wants to offer more in attack, help guide the club’s younger players and, above everything else, bring silverware back to Manchester.

“We don’t want to be another team that just gets knocked out, we want to be a team of contenders,” she said. “So for us, that applies in our league as well. We don’t want to just be another team. We want to be a team that’s competing for things and winning titles.”

Riviere joined Manchester United in January 2023, signing her first professional contract after her college career at the University of Michigan. Still only 25, the full-back has quickly grown into one of United’s most important and experienced players.

The defender is now closing in on 100 appearances, having played 78 matches for the Reds in all competitions. It is a landmark she admits she never expected to reach.

“I never thought I’d play for a United point blank period,” she said. “So anything that comes with that is just an achievement.”

Given the number of injuries she has had during her time with the Reds, that milestone carries even greater meaning.

“I think being as unfortunate with injuries and still being able to have 75 appearances is something that I can take away and be proud of and anything that comes further on is another accomplishment to add to the book.”

Riviere feels her all-in approach to defending has sometimes come at a price. She acknowledged that the way she plays, especially her readiness to put her body on the line, has played a part in some of the injuries she has suffered.

“It’s unfortunate that there’s this stigma around being injury prone because it comes with the sport. It’s something that every great footballer goes through and it’s unfortunate but for me, it’s positive.”

The Canada international believes she has matured with each passing season, learning better when to take risks and when to manage her body more carefully.

“My first season, I went through a lot to kind of get up to the pace of the season,” she said. “I put my whole body into tackles, so I sometimes come on the negative end of those things.

“But every season I’ve become more and more available. I’ve become more into my own.”

What had begun as a promising season for United eventually finished in disappointment. They ended the campaign without a trophy after losing to Chelsea in the Subway League Cup final, before then being knocked out of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup by the Blues in the Round of 16.

In the league, United came fourth, nine points short of Champions League qualification. It appeared that the demands of midweek European football, along with untimely injuries, prevented the side from reaching its full level.

“It was disappointing to finish fourth in the league,” said Riviere. ”There’s still some positives to take away from that especially going as far as we did in Champions League and being runners-up in the cup.

“But obviously, as a club with such a high ambition, there’s goals we want to attain, and winning the league is one of them. So we definitely fell short of that goal. So now it’s about applying our lessons from last season into this one.”

In their first UWCL campaign, United made a strong impression early on and looked immediately comfortable in Europe. During the league phase, they recorded wins against some of the continent’s top sides, including Atletico Madrid, PSG and Juventus.

Those demanding European matches gave United important lessons, handing the squad experience they can now use as a base for their ambitions going forward.

“I think we learned European football is a different type of beast. It definitely adds a lot to the mind and body because you go from playing one games a week to almost having three.

The extra travel and preparation gave United a valuable education, especially while facing what Riviere described as ‘monster’ teams with a deep history in the competition.

“Being able to have a Manchester United team play against Paris St. Germain at Old Trafford, those are things you can’t write a script about.

“In terms of things we’ve taken away is just, like, every team is competitive and every team has the same goal of wanting to win, and we want to be a team above those teams.”

Even though United missed out on this season’s competition, Riviere feels the absence of midweek fixtures can serve as “fuel” as the club chases its first-ever WSL title.

“We can only now use that as fuel because we’ve been there, we’ve done that. So now we can be there and compete at the highest level.”

Although Riviere has established herself as a constant presence in the backline, she wants to bring more attacking output to her game this season.

The 25-year-old regularly pushes high down the flanks and delivers crosses into the area, but has registered only seven assists during her Reds career. Ahead of the new season, she is setting herself more ambitious targets in the final third.

“My goal for the season is to be the most attacking mind that I have been,” she explained. “I got a bit of that last season being up and down the flanks a little more, but I want to get assists. I wanna get goals.

“So for me, that’s being more attacking-minded, that’s being more threatening, taking people on, using my assets against my opponents and making sure I’m putting the ball in a place where I can have someone finish it.”

If United are to improve on last season’s fourth-place finish and mount a challenge for major honours, Riviere knows there is very little room for a slow beginning. The Reds face a particularly difficult opening stretch, starting with London City Lionesses on the opening day before meetings with Chelsea and Arsenal.

“There is no easy start in this league and I think that’s why it attracts the big names,” she said. “Every game is a competition and yes, we have a rougher start at the beginning but after that, there’s another three tougher games that we have to play, and then another three.

“For us, it gives us a jump start on the season to hit the ground running. There’s no relaxing and trying to cruise, because that’s not an option in this league.”

United’s summer has also been accompanied by speculation after the departure of Marc Skinner and the arrival of Eva Olid, with questions asked about the club’s investment and whether the current squad has enough depth to compete at the top end of the WSL.

But Riviere insists the squad cannot allow itself to be sidetracked by issues beyond its control.

“We have a very talented group and we need to be able to maximise everyone’s talent, especially this season,” she said.

“Everyone has this speculation around not investing into the transfer window and everything like that, but we have a good group of girls here.”

The off-field changes and ongoing conversation around the club could act as extra motivation, but the Canada international is determined to direct her energy only towards what she and her teammates can influence.

“You can definitely look at is as fuel, but I also think that we signed for Man United to play football. We didn’t sign for the extracurriculars that happened outside of it, and that’s not something that we can control. So why am I going to apply energy to something I can’t exactly change?

“What I can work on and control is my attitude, how I show up in training, and how I push my teammates, and that’s ultimately what can get the best of them. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

Manchester United begin their WSL season away to London City Lionesses on Friday evening, with Riviere and her teammates aiming to put their ambitions into practice from the very first weekend.

The match kicks off at 7pm BST at the CopperJax Community Stadium and will be shown live on Sky Sports for viewers in the UK.