Carli Lloyd said today that women won’t close football’s gender pay gap “in my lifetime.”

The United States will play Scotland tonight in a friendly and, speaking prior to the game, Lloyd was pessimistic about players in the women’s game getting parity in terms of pay.

With figures released showing how much male clubs pay their players, there were once again calls for those in the women’s game to get a significant pay rise.

While the former Manchester City loanee believes that the men’s game has “gone mad,” she added that those involved will never stop fighting for their share of the pot.

“It’s kind of crazy — the figures that came out in the men’s game,” said Lloyd.

“It’s gone mad in my opinion. I don’t know, I think there’s a huge gap that needs to catch up to that but we as women are going to continue to keep fighting and keep trying to close that gap.

“I’m not sure if I will see that in my lifetime. I sense we are going to be fighting until the end, but hopefully we will see the gap being closed tighter and tighter.”

Women’s football in the United States is arguably bigger than the men’s game, Lloyd and her teammates are reigning world champions, beating Japan 5-2 in the final — Lloyd herself scoring a hat-trick.

While the state of the game continues to grow in the US, Scotland are yet to have a professional women’s league.

England’s Women’s Super League is expanding with the creation of the Women’s Championship and with Scotland qualifying for next year’s World Cup, the creation of a professional league is the next logical step.

Asked if Scotland should venture into that territory, Lloyd said: “I don’t know the business side of it, but starting off small is best.

“In some of the leagues in the US we started off big and it didn’t end well.

“You need the exposure, you need TV deals, you need sponsorships and butts on seats to be able to pay for things. It is a matter of marking out a plan, starting off small and growing.

“Women’s football is evolving so much. With the right support and mindset, creating a business model is the key to a successful league.”