Chelsea Women are still on course to win every single trophy available to them this season after obliterating Wolfsburg in the second leg of their Champions League. Goals from Pernille Harder, Sam Kerr and Fran Kirby gave the Blues a 3-0 win in Budapest and a 5-1 on aggregate, as Emma Hayes’ side booked their place in the last four.
There they will face Bayern Munich or Rosengard for a place in the final and if they perform as they did in this second leg, there is no reason why they can’t win their very first Champions League trophy. Unlike the first leg, in which Chelsea were under a lot of pressure, they had control of this game from the first minute, and when they scored that vital away goal, any nerves dissipated.
That opener was scored by Harder against her former club, from the penalty spot. The home side protested after Kerr was seemingly tripped, and a spot-kick awarded. Harder made no mistake and Chelsea joy turned to jubilation soon after as Kerr scored her 20th goal of the season and ended the competitiveness of the tie.
Wolfsburg pressed in the second half in an attempt to get back into the game but Chelsea showed excellent game management skills. Controlling the game, they even managed to grab a third on the break as Ji So-Yun slid through Kirby, who made no mistake in front of goal. After Ewa Pajor missed a sitter in the first half, the Blues remained relatively untested until Zsanett Jakabfi was twice denied in injury time by the brilliant Ann-Katrin Berger, who once again kept a clean sheet.
Her performances will be crucial if Chelsea are to make the final and Hayes’ side are likely to have to beat Bayern Munich in the semi-finals, as the German side are 3-0 heading into their second leg tomorrow. That will provide an even stiffer test than this latest win against last season’s beaten finalists as Bayern’s record in the Bundesliga currently reads, P17 W17 D0 L0. In fact, they have been so good this season domestically that they have only conceded three goals. Three!
The dangerous duo of Kirby and Kerr will be desperate to get stuck into that back-line in what should provide great drama and entertainment. The League Cup and Community Shield are already in the bag, the side two points clear at the top of the WSL and the FA Cup set to resume this week, the clean sweep is now a reality. It would go down as one of the greatest achievements in sport if they can pull this off.
One team they won’t be facing in this season’s Champions League is title contenders Manchester City. Having lost their first leg to Barcelona 3-0, they were unable to fight back in the second leg.
Canada international Janine Beckie scored on 20 minutes to give the hosts hope against the Catalan giants but Asisat Oshoala netted a crucial away goal to level the score.
The Manchester club then faced an uphill battle but struck again through Sam Mewis from the penalty spot on 68 minutes. However, they couldn’t find the other goals needed to progress and while it was a 2-1 victory on the day, the aggregate score was 4-2 in favour of Barca.
City may be out, but nothing looks like stopping this irresistible Chelsea side.
