‘It’s what childhood dreams are made of’: Man United star Katie Zelem targeting FA Cup glory on the club’s ‘crazy journey’ – and is hoping she fares better at Wembley than her dad after his defeat in 1989!

It’s been a five-year journey from the wilderness to FA Cup finalists and title challengers for Manchester United women.

But for captain Katie Zelem, it’s been 19 years in the making. Zelem joined her childhood club at the age of eight but was forced to leave in 2013 due to there being no professional set-up.

Five years later, everything changed. United finally launched a full-time women’s team and Zelem was asked whether she would come back to help lead the new, ambitious project.

But it was not a straightforward decision. United would start in the Championship, the division below the Women’s Super League, and Zelem had just become a Serie A champion with Juventus and was set to play in the Champions League.

Ultimately, the lure of playing for her hometown club was too strong and five years on, Zelem will captain her side for their first appearance at Wembley in this weekend’s FA Cup final.

‘When I first signed five years ago everyone came from different backgrounds, different experiences,’ Zelem says.

‘It was my childhood club but I’d just won the league and got into the Champions League at Juventus so it was a huge gamble for me to come back and play in the Championship.

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‘I actually did an interview with Leah [Galton] and she’d stopped playing football completely so everyone was in really different circumstances. If you look back to where we were there to where we are now, it’s a crazy journey. I think it’s been a real rollercoaster with ups and downs.

‘We’ve certainly come on leaps and bounds to be honest. From being at Leigh with some girls that have never played full-time or never had professional contracts to now being at this stage of the season competing for the double, I think it’s almost immeasurable.

‘I’m so proud to have been a part of the whole journey. There’s four or five originals left I think, it’s a bond that we’ll always share. We know that we’ve been through the same things together and different managers, different players but we’ve been there through it all and I think that’s so special.’

Zelem, though, is not the first member of her family to play at Wembley. Her father, Alan, played for Macclesfield in the 1989 FA Trophy.

‘He tells me this all the time,’ Zelem laughs after mentioning her father’s day at Wembley 34 years ago.

‘My Dad and his twin were both professional footballers, and that [final] was my Dad’s career highlight for sure. If you ever get a chance to meet him I’m sure he’ll tell you that he played at Wembley! Unfortunately he got beat, so hopefully it will be a different outcome for us. But as soon as we made it to Wembley he texted me saying ‘you’re always copying me’ so hopefully I’ll be able to dig out a photo of him there, and me there.’

United face four-time winners Chelsea, who they have never beaten, in the final on Sunday. But Zelem’s side are having their best ever season and the captain believes recent victories over Arsenal has helped change their mentality going into big games.

‘Definitely in previous seasons we’ve gone into those sorts of games as the underdogs and now we don’t feel like that’s the case at all,’ she said.

‘We genuinely go into those games knowing our game plan, knowing what we want to do. We don’t change now for the other teams whereas maybe in the first few seasons it was more about staying in the game, maybe take a point or maybe nick a win. Now, you see in a lot of the games we dominate possession, we dominate the ball.

‘That shows the mentality shift that we want to win, we genuinely believe we can win and that’s what we accept now.’

United have become adept at scoring late goals, with league wins against Aston Villa, Arsenal, Reading and their semi-final victory over Brighton all coming in the final minutes.

‘Fergie time is what we used to call that at Manchester United!’ Zelem laughs.

‘I think the Arsenal game at the Emirates was a turning point. Those things don’t happen by accident, it’s not really something you can overly practice in training but when it happens once, then starts happening again, it becomes less of a coincidence.

‘You make your own luck. Whether people will say we’re lucky, we work hard for that moment, we work hard to keep the pressure on a team and we work hard to create those chances. Then it’s about whoever it is taking them.’

Zelem took a gamble on coming back to United but it is one that has paid off. Asked to reflect on her journey with the club, Zelem smiles: ‘It’s been five years, and it feels like it’s been forever, it literally feels like it’s the only club I’ve been at.

‘I was eight when I first signed for Manchester United, and we used to do the flag-bearing in the Champions League, so walking out at Old Trafford, full, 75,000 people, wafting the Uefa flag around.

‘If I look back then to me coming to the Cliff, training with all the girls and still some really good friends of mine now, and obviously the likes of Millie [Turner] and Tooney [Ella Toone] came through the Centre of Excellence too, so signing for Manchester United as such as small kid, to what 20 years nearly, showing my age, later, captaining them at Wembley…Manchester United lives firmly in my heart.

‘Captaining Manchester United and making my debut – then this moment – will certainly be up there in my highlights. It’s a club I’ve been at for a really long time now and supported my whole life. I think it’s what childhood dreams are made of.’