Manchester City 2-0 Chelsea, Women's Champions League: Post-match reaction

03/19/2025 05:53 PM

The streak is over.

On a much better pitch condition than the one we had in Derby for the Women's League Cup final, we expected Manchester City and Chelsea Women to bring their A-game. This is pretty much what they did in the first minutes of the match where our midfields clashed horns with one another in search of ball possession and bringing the ball forward.

However City couldn't help but feel the absence of their battering ram, Bunny Shaw. The world-class striker left the pitch early last weekend with a hamstring injury and she wasn't even a bench option for the Citizens.

This doesn't mean Chelsea were just dominating the pitch with ease. We were still a step behind City especially in front of goal. Few chances were created, and we didn't make the best out of those while City consistently tested Hannah Hampton out whenever they got the ball in a dangerous position.

So what would be our approach for the second half? Settle for a draw and try our luck in the second leg at home? Or risk it for the biscuit, pushing forward for a positive result that could take at least a little bit of pressure off our backs?

The answer to those questions came pretty quick as City stepped forward into the challenge while Chelsea cowered. The result of such capitulation was pretty obvious: a City goal via Vivianne Miedema.

Thing is you can never count Chelsea out even when they're doing almost nothing to climb back into a game. We almost had such a moment with Mayra Ramírez hitting the target while offside.

But today was the day where luck was not on our side. And we need to figure out very quick how to get results without it.

• Keira Walsh is back in the starting lineup.
• This first half from Chelsea was definitely nothing to write home about.
• Poor choices and failure to match the level of our main rivals finally catches up to us.
• Next up: Manchester City at the Etihad in the Women's Super League.
• KTBFFH.