Villa star Alisha Lehmann has more followers than Roger Federer but insists football is the priority

More people on the social media platform are interested in the Aston Villa and Switzerland forward than compatriot Roger Federer - the greatest tennis player of all time - boxer Tommy Fury, who is set to face Jake Paul in a lucrative boxing match, Jack Grealish, F1 star Max Verstappen and two-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes.

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Perhaps frustratingly for the 24-year-old, many might be focusing on her snaps away from the pitch rather than her talent on it, but that allows her to create a platform for the latter.

Women's football is exploding in Europe, with England's victory at last year's European championship attracting record viewing figures and drastically boosting interest in the Women's Super League.

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That momentum will only continue to grow when the game's top talents arrive in Australia and New Zealand for the summer's World Cup where Lehmann's Switzerland will look to excel.

Plenty of spotlight will be put upon her due to her social media presence, but that's not an issue she told talkSPORT.

"To be honest, I don't really think about it," she said. "It's not something where I wake up every day and think, oh my God, I have so many followers.

"It's more that it's really nice, the support and everything and it's also a big opportunity.

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"I would like to show the world that women can actually do it in football and you don't need to just to be normal.

"You can also be a bit crazy, just be you, and use your personality to show the world who you are."

Lehmann has certainly done that, but there's far more at stake.

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Women are still far, far behind men in terms of pay and equality in the game, something she notices when users question her ability.

"Some people just see Instagram and social media and don't even know I actually play football," she explained.

"When I don't post a football picture for a week, people say, 'oh she doesn't even play'.

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"I think sometimes it's a bit hard because obviously I play like I train every day, like everyone else, like I play every weekend and sometimes it's hard because they make a picture of you.

"I'm a proper footballer. I work hard every day. I want to be the best version of myself in football and that's my first priority in life."

In England, things are certainly on the up for women in the game, but that's not the case everywhere.

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Lehmann explains that almost everyone back home who plays needs a second job, but social media is one way of helping the sport grow and change perceptions.

She said: "England probably is the picture everyone should look at because I don't think in other countries it increased that much.

"In Switzerland, for example, everyone's still working, 90 per cent probably still work.

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"I don't think you can compare like anything between women's and men's football because it's just so different how people look at us and how people look at them.

"It's just not the same. Women's football is always second class. I don't think you'll ever be first class because I think a lot of people still think that men's football is the first priority.

"They don't think about women's football and I think that's a big problem. Now social media is really helpful because people actually see, oh, we play football, we can play football.

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"When they come to their first game, after they say 'oh it's not even that bad' they're surprised but people judge before they even saw the actual game."

But will things ever be equal?

"I don't think this will ever happen to be honest, maybe in the next 100 years but we will not be here anymore.

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"I hope that in the summer when we play the World Cup it's a big, big thing. I hope that will push women's football more forward.

"We just need to live in the moment and appreciate what we have now and obviously grow it."