Can we play you every week? At the peak of four meetings in 12 days between Chelsea and Manchester City, even the answer from Sonia Bompastor’s side is a ‘no’. But Chelsea was once again through the semi -finals of the Women’s Champions League, who saves their best performance of the two weeks to aggravate the visitors at Stamford Bridge, who only needs 44 minutes to turn their defeat to the first leg of two goals and to see the work done. City will be sick of the sight of Chelsea; The one game of the four they won was most unimportant.
Chelsea was jubilant, a huge effort rewarded with the return they knew was possible. “We were never in doubt,” Captain Millie Bright said. Over the past two weeks, they have won the League Cup, stretched their advantage at the top of the female Super League and advanced to a fourth final of the Champions League in five seasons.
They will face a well-known enemy: two-time defending champions Barcelona, who has defeated Chelsea in the semi-finals for the past two years and destroyed Wolfsburg 10-2 in the other quarterfinals. This is the moment the extremely impressive debut season of Bompastor builds up and the ultimate test, but even the ruling champions will withhold this elimination of the city and feel a sense of sadness.
For everyone in Maroon, the experience of Chelsea in this all-English quarterfinals was a deep uncomfortable one, perhaps even humiliating in the first half. Judging by the frustration of Vivianne Miedema, the distress of Laia Aleixandri and the confusion of interim manager Nick Cushing on the tangent, it was a harmful and confusing collapse. “The perfect night for us,” Bompastor said. “It was a difficult challenge, but we believed it was possible, which made the difference.” After Sandy Baltimore pulled back the first after 13 minutes, Chelsea was relentless; The 15 -minute game brought two more, from Nathalie Bjorn and Mayra Ramirez, but still it could have been five or six at the break.
That City was not allowed to force a little pressure. Miedema, who scored both goals in last week’s 2-0 win, had a low ride past the post. Chelsea fell a little deeper, a little more likely to hit the ball anywhere while cleaning their lines. But it was their achievement of the season under Bompastor, a show that, at its brightest, carried a physicality and dynamic to the levels the city could not live with. Chelsea built a young, hungry collection of runners and bompastor who will point them in the direction of Barcelona’s direction during the latest meeting of their rivalry in the Champions League next month.
Perhaps inspired by Arsenal’s fierce pace in the reversal of a 2-0 first legs against Real Madrid at the Emirates, Chelsea from the beginning was unrelenting and irreparable. City crushed by City, who ended their unbeaten 28 matches last week in Manchester, brought them intensity that looked like he surprised Cushing’s side. Chelsea was immediately sharper, with Lauren James Prior – the first of several challenges won by the forward – and Ramirez charged by Jill Roord. There was no time for City to breathe: Even the compound Yui Hasegawa was overpowered, and at one point he turned around her surrounded by Ramirez and Wieke captain.
Chelsea kept coming and City found that there was no way to delay them. Bjorn’s head hit the post after a first ten minutes of dominance, and then Lucy Bronze burst into the box with a sharp one-two and hits the upright with the outside of her foot. Baltimore was there to hit the rebound. Bompastor hit her arms when Erin Cuthbert went on the ground under the challenge of Aleixandri. No penalty, but Chelsea went again and Miedema was forced to clear Bjorn’s head from the line. A third chance for Bjorn from a corner brought the equalizer, with her head in the head.
At that point it was really Chelsea. Previously, Hannah Hampton was forced to stop a sharp stop to refuse Mary Fowler, with Kerolin stopping next to the target. But without Khadija Shaw, who, due to a hamstring injury, was excluded from both legs of this quarterfinals, which contributed the absence of Lauren Shirt, City did not have a presence before and their cleanup kept coming back. On the other hand, Ramirez Aleixandri tormented. Just before halftime, she forced the city captain to submit a throw. In a blink of an eye, the city lost carelessly and James tracked Ramirez to add the third.
Work done? Not quite. Khiara Keating quietly had an excellent match in the goal for the visitors, which saved well from Johanna Ryting Kanery and the tireless Cuthbert in the second half. The threat was carried by Chelsea on the break, with Cuthbert beating the bar in another, but the pace delayed. Only a purpose away from forcing extra time, City found some faith; Miedema was an inch or two to drag them again.
But there would be only one winner. Chelsea will be league champions this season. They are already the winners of the League Cup and the FA Cup can follow. City could have spoiled it by the price they want to win, above all, just for Chelsea to show that they are the best in the country again.
