Chelsea defeats Manchester City to reach the Champions League semifinals: is this their year?
Chelsea eliminated Manchester City from the Champions League and went to the semifinals after a devastating 3-0 victory in the second stage of the quarterfinals.
The hosts went in a balance by dragging 2-0, but three goals from the first half in the fourth consecutive meeting between the teams in three competitions canceled any persistent nerve at Stamford Bridge while Chelsea won 3-2 in aggregate.
Chelsea started the most aggressive of the two parts in search of an initial goal they desperately needed.
At the 14th minute the shot to the right of Lucy Bronze with the outside of his boot struck the post, but the international France Sandy Baltimore was in the right place at the right time and enriched himself magnificently in the back of the net.
Chelsea continued to pepper the city box and although the city had possibilities, they were reduced to long -range strokes that did not excessively concern Chelsea n. 1 Hannah Hampton.
Immediately after the half hour of Mark Chelsea almost doubled their advantage if it had not been for the authorization of the line of goals by Vivianne Miedema from the header of Nathalie Bjorn.
International England Lauren James was a constant plug on the side of the city, as well as Mayra Ramirez. Chelsea’s second goal came from Ramirez’s work while he got the better of the defenders of the city Leila Ouahabi and Laia Aleixandri on the right wing and won a corner. This time Bjorn’s header from Baltimore’s corner beat Khiara Keating.
The interim coach of the city Nick Cushing managed his players to keep his calm, but just before the interval James scored a loose passage from Ouahabi who reduced the ball to Ramirez for the third of Chelsea.
“A free flow striker with a resolute defense”
When Bompastor took the place of Emma Hayes in September, he did not hide his desire to conquer Europe with Chelsea.
“I will give all my energy to support the players to achieve this,” he said in his first interview in the club.
Chelsea gave himself an uphill battle to climb after the defeat in the first stage, but were simply unjustable against one side of the city, severely hampered by an injury. They brought the game to the city and put them under a strong pressure, hitting the Woordwork three times. If it hadn’t been for some precious prices from Keating, Chelsea could have won with a larger lens margin and would have given some space to breathe.
City was missing from reinforcements from the bench and could only name five substitutes, including a goalkeeper, who paved compared to the depth of Chelsea’s team. Laura Coombs arrived in the second half for Lily Murphy, which meant that Miedema pushed into the role of n. 9 and Mary Fowler played on the wing. City only needed a goal to take the tie for the extra time, but Cushing’s team did not respond with clear possibilities. Miedema approached the 72nd minute with a shotgun from the edge of the box, but Chelsea kept them at bay.
If appointed provisional at the beginning of the month following the dismissal of Gareth Taylor, Cushing’s priority was to report the city among the first three of the female Super League to ensure the qualification for the Champions League of the next season. But the 2-1 defeat on Sunday in the WSL left City seven points at the drift of third place with five games of the remaining countryside.
It seemed that their best possibility of qualifying for the Champions League was to win the Champions League, but Chelsea crushed that dream.
The reigning champions of Barcelona are awaiting Chelsea in the semifinal, a repetition of the semifinal last year, after having beaten Wolfsburg 10-2 in aggregate. Judging by the second half of the performance of the Chelsea League against City on Sunday and this 3-0 victory, Chelsea is showing that they can be a free flow striker with a resolute defense. Now I’m a step closer to the trophy that has eliminated them so far.
(Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
