'The No.1 goal' - Manchester United chief names 'ultimate ambition' ahead of historic Champions League clash

Manchester United head of womens football Matt Johnson insists their 'ultimate ambition' is to win the Champions League ahead of their historic clash with Paris Saint-Germain next week.

United Women have already made history this season when they qualified for the Champions League tournament proper for the first time after overcoming PSV Eindhoven and Brann in the qualification rounds. Mark Skinner's side have enjoyed a perfect start to the competition, with two wins and two clean sheets, including an impressive away victory over Atletico Madrid in which they had 10 players for almost an hour.

Johnson is under no illusion about how tough it will be when United host two-time runners-up PSG at Old Trafford on Wednesday night, with the huge clash viewed as another important step towards their dream of conquering Europe.

"We have progressed over the last 12-18 months, and you have seen the team evolve and develop," he told Manchester World. "We need to use this as the catalyst and not the endpoint. For us, we are now in Europe, we are doing well, and we want to maximise the exposure opportunity that gives us so we can improve the squad even further. We can go deeper in these competitions, and the ultimate ambition is to win it one day.

"The club has got a very public goal out there. We want to win the WSL by 2028. For us, the aim is ‘can we get closer to that each year’. For us it is pretty clear, when you are at Manchester United - and this is what the players embrace - we want to win trophies. That is the No.1 goal. Therefore, to do that, our aim is to go deep in all the competitions that we compete in. Then, once you go deep, then it is on the night that the performances count. In the Champions League, the short-term goal was to qualify for the first time in the club’s history, which we did and that is not an easy process. So we have done the first part and the next is to qualify for the next stage, either automatically or through the play-offs, that has to be the ambition and from the start that we have had, that is where we have got to get to."

United sit third in the Women's Super League after they were defeated 1-0 by Aston Villa at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday lunchtime, with one eye perhaps already on Wednesday’s match. There will be even more eyes on them when they play at Old Trafford in midweek and another opportunity to showcase why they should play more matches at the historic home ground in the future.

Johnson added: "What we want to do first of all is to make sure that we are creating a really good experience and having crowds full is better than having a few in a massive stadium. The first real target is, if we think we can get more than the 12,000 that we have at Leigh Sports Village then we will take it to Old Trafford.

"So the Manchester derby is always at Old Trafford because we know, as we have proven, that we can get 30-40,000 there so we will take it there. For us, it is about growing the game in a sustainable way where we are starting to get 10-12,000 in every week at Leigh because then it becomes a case that now we can grow the game and take it to Old Trafford. For us it is just where the women’s game is at, at the moment and we are fortunate that we have the largest club stadium in the country so we have to balance that experience of the game vs the stadium size and the fanbase at the moment. So that is why we are working towards it. We would love to be in a situation where we have grown the core fanbase so much that we have outgrown 12,000 and we are needing to go to a bigger stadium."

Johnson acknowledges the enormity of the task against PSG, but it also eager to ensure they use it as a springboard for future success, rather than the culmination of a journey. It's a challenge he relishes, but it is also an opportunity for them to make a statement.

"It is an opportunity to write the future in terms of it not just being the men who have played in the Champions League on those special nights at Old Trafford, the women’s team have done that as well. That sets a precedent and once you break a barrier, that opens it up to go further and forwards.

"You have always got to look forward. It is good to look back and recognise the journey that you have been on and actually take a stop in football and say well done - particularly to the players that make it happen and the staff - but if you look back too long in football you fall behind, especially when you see women’s football growing and evolving so quickly.

"I think it will be definitely up there as one of the biggest nights for Manchester United women’s football."

Manchester United host Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday 12 November and tickets are available here.