Manchester City and England captain Steph Houghton says some things are more important than football after her friend, Arsenal and Scotland’s Jen Beattie, revealed she has breast cancer.

Houghton spoke about Beattie’s diagnosis after City beat the Gunners 2-1 in the Women’s Super League yesterday where players from both clubs wore Beattie’s name and number on their shirts. 

Houghton, who played with Beattie at City for four years until the Scot left last year for Arsenal, wrote on Instagram: “Somethings are more important than football [sic]. 

"@jbeattie91 you are an inspiration to us all! So proud of you + everything you have done and so proud to call you one of my close friends! Missed ya! We got you Buckwheat!”

Beattie was diagnosed in October and chose to speak this weekend to raise awareness for breast cancer and urge the importance of early detection of the disease.

The 29 year-old, who is starting radiotherapy soon, ‘caught it early’ and she said no matter how old you are you should always get things checked out.

She told The Telegraph: “Numbers for diagnosis have gone down massively because of Covid. That really scares me because knowing that I caught it early, it could have been a very different story for me. 

"It’s worth going to get it checked out always – it doesn’t matter if you’re 29 or 70.”