Chelsea comeback secures semi-final clash with Barcelona

Chelsea Women have beaten Manchester City 3-2 on aggregate to cement their place in the Women’s Champions League semi-finals, where they will face long-time rivals Barcelona.

Reaching the semi-finals was not as straightforward as Chelsea made it seem in their breezy 3-0 win against Manchester City in the second leg, who had left them trailing by two goals after their first meeting. In her post-match interview, Chelsea Women’s manager, Sonia Bompastor, reflected on the victory, stating – “I told my players, from the first whistle by the referee to the last whistle from the referee, I just want us to give everything and not have any regrets. Tonight, this is what we did.”

They certainly did give their all, utilising a dominant high press which led to three blazing goals from the powerful boots of Baltimore (14’), an unstoppable header from Björn (38’) and bottom-left corner strike from Ramírez (43’) in the first half of the game. Manchester City did not have many chances on goal and the game could have easily ended 5 or 6-0 to Chelsea with chances from Bronze and Cuthbert. Nevertheless, this victory was historic as it had taken 21 years for a two-goal first-leg deficit in the quarter-finals of the Champions League to be overturned but Chelsea and Arsenal achieved this feat in the span of two days.

Defeating Manchester City was not new for Bompastor’s Blues; this Champions League clash was the fourth time the two teams had faced each other in just twelve days. The victory in the second leg of the Women’s Champions League marked the culmination of this epic saga in which Chelsea were the victors three out of four times. They left the final of the Women’s League Cup with heavy silverware to take back to Kingsmeadow, defeated Manchester City in the Women’s Super League but lost the Champions League first leg, which seems insignificant now. Clearly, this intense schedule of fixtures did not diminish the talent, passion and drive of the Chelsea ‘mentality monsters’.

The upcoming semi-finals will once again put to test the ability of the Chelsea Women to adapt and overcome. Last year, the Blues missed out on a place in the Champions League final after Barcelona had beaten them 2-1 on aggregate in the semis and proceeded to win the whole competition. This year, the two sides will face each other once more, in exactly the same circumstances. Barça Femení is also on form, having thrashed Wolfsburg 10-2 on aggregate on the same night as Chelsea faced Manchester City. However, the Chelsea fans would hope that their team is out for revenge against current title holders Barcelona, on what are set to be two huge European nights under the lights.