Toni Duggan: Women's game in Spain has more passion and anger than England - it's a sign of progress!

Winner: Toni Duggan
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England Women forward Toni Duggan says harsher criticism of the women's game is a sign of progress.

Duggan, who is preparing for her second World Cup, has seen a rise in popularity in Spain after two years with the Catalans.

In March, 60,739 attended the Wanda Metropolitano - the host of this season's men's Champions League Final - as Atletico Madrid lost to Barcelona, a world-record crowd for a domestic women's game.

The 27-year-old, who scored in the game, says both the men's and women's games are treated the same by the media in Spain, a level of respect not seen everywhere.

"If we’re successful we’re on the front page of the newspaper - every newspaper and the big ones, Marca and others - but then also when we lose we’re slated," she told Standard Sport.

"There’s a picture of me celebrating [against Atletico] and behind me there’s actually a man putting one finger up.

AFP/Getty Images

"I’m not promoting that or saying it’s a good thing but it kind of showed what I meant. You could feel the passion in the stadium that day. It was a real atmosphere.

"In England, I think we get about 30,000 for maybe a Cup final and there are lots of kids on the seats, which is nice don’t get me wrong, but it’s a calm atmosphere.

"But I felt like that was a proper game and the fans really wanted to be there for their team - the Atletico supporters were giving us stick, they were booing us, there were flares.

"I’m not encouraging all of it - there are some things in the men’s game we don’t want - but I’m just saying it felt like a proper atmosphere. Sometimes we can give away free tickets and get 20,000 but 10,000 are free.

"But at the Wanda those people had bought those tickets, they were die-hard Atletico Madrid fans and were there to see their team win and that’s different between England and Spain for me. Sometimes you can go to stadiums and there are 2,000 people there but it feels like it’s 10,000."

England kick off their World Cup campaign against Scotland on Sunday.

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