Chelsea were forced to come from a goal down as they secured a 2-1 victory at Celtic to maintain their perfect start in the Women’s Champions League.
Sonia Bompastor’s side, who travelled to Scotland without Millie Bright, Kadeisha Buchanan, Sjoeke Nusken and Mayra Ramirez, were made to work hard for their win, which sees them maintain their perfect start to the season with a ninth straight victory in all competitions this term.
In Celtic’s first real attack of the game, Murphy Agnew finished off a swift counter from the hosts as they took a shock 22nd-minute lead.
However, Chelsea, who are on a 12-match winning run in all competitions, were not behind for long.
Saturday 16th November 5:00pm
Kick off 5:30pm
The WSL champions – who face a crucial WSL clash against leaders Man City, live on Sky Sports on Saturday (Kick-off 5.30pm) – roared back with two goals in four first-half minutes.
Maika Hamano swept home Aggie Beever-Jones’ cut back for the equaliser (28), before Ashley Lawrence thumped home a rebound after goalkeeper Kelsey Daugherty denied stand-in Chelsea captain Erin Cuthbert from close range.
A much-changed Chelsea pushed to extend their advantage in the second half but found Celtic goalkeeper Daugherty in fine form. She twice denied substitute Catarina Macario before Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s low shot was kept out as Daugherty held Chelsea at bay.
The third goal never came for the Blues, who had Beever-Jones sent off in stoppage-time after two bookable offences, but they held on for a third straight win in the Women’s Champions League to sit top of Group B with nine points.
Meanwhile, it was a spirited showing from Celtic but the remain rooted to the bottom of the group as they await their first point in the competition.
Bompastor not happy with performance
Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor:
“I knew it would be a tough game for us, especially because of the Celtic mentality. They showed a lot of heart and they played with a lot of energy. We were expecting that they were going to be really motivated.
“Also, as a manager, I decided to rotate my squad, so sometimes it can happen that the players don’t get the same chemistry together. But I wanted to have a better impression from my team. I’m really happy with the three points and the victory, but not really happy with the performance. We were not efficient enough tonight.
“Every game is always an opportunity to learn. Tonight I learned a lot and I will share that with my players as a team, but also as individuals.
“There are some positives. With our squad, we are still able to rotate players and rest some. We have the three points and the victory, so we stay in the good dynamic for that, but in terms of the performance, we needed to do a better job in different aspects.
“As a manager, I always have different plans for the game and the three substitutions were planned. That’s the positive. We are just now moving on and going into the Manchester City game exactly with the plans we wanted to have.”
‘Performance can give Celtic confidence’
Celtic head coach Elena Sadik:
“Obviously I’m gutted because I think we deserved more. I think we were the team that looked closest to scoring a goal in the last minutes, not Chelsea. But I am very proud of the girls. What a performance, what an effort. They followed through with the game plan exactly as I wanted to do.
“It’s not only that, I talked about being confident and brave before the game. If you look at that game, you can see players with a lot of confidence. I’m very pleased and I’m very proud.
“We’ve been growing into the competition. Tonight we showed everything that we can do. The confidence that we get from this performance can only make us stronger. The girls know who we can compete against. Hopefully the first points will come.
“I think that they probably believe it more now because what we showed tonight is a really good effort and really good performance. Now the girls know what they can do.”
“hat we did tonight is going to give us even more hunger to play against Rangers on Sunday. We showed again what quality players we have. I’m really looking forward to the game on Sunday because with this performance hopefully we can be more brave and more confident.
What’s coming up for Celtic and Chelsea?
Attention now turns to huge league games for both sides.
On Saturday, Chelsea host the WSL leaders Man City, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 5.30pm.
Sunday 17th November 11:30am
Kick off 12:00pm
Meanwhile, Celtic host Rangers in the WSPL, live on Sky Sports on Sunday; kick-off 12.30pm.
The two sides meet again in the return fixture in the Women’s Champions League on Wednesday November 20; kick-off 8pm.
