European tie is far from over, admits Taylor
CITY boss Gareth Taylor has stressed ‘no tie is ever over after the first game’ ahead of today’s Women’s Champions League last-16 second leg against Fiorentina.
The Blues head into the contest in Florence with a 3-0 lead from the first leg last week, thanks to early finishes by Lauren Hemp and Ellen White and a late Sam Mewis header.
Taylor said: “It was an important goal, the third goal.
“People always talk about breathing space. But I’ve always said that no tie is ever over after the first game.
“You’ve still got to go out and do a professional job and make sure you give yourself the best possible chance. No matter who I pick, we’ll make sure that happens.”
He added: “Sometimes when you’ve got nothing to lose you can see a team come out and be a little bit braver. They could come out and really go for it, so we need to be alive and aware of that and I’m sure we will be.”
After two runs to the semi-finals of the Champions League, City exited in the last 32 in 2019 and the last 16 in 2020, both times being eliminated by Atletico Madrid.
Taylor said ahead of the first leg last week that he thought City were ‘good enough to win’ the competition.
And the 48-year-old, who was appointed successor to Nick Cushing in
May last year, said ahead of today’s match: “I’m not sure if it (success in the Champions League this season) is imperative, but we’ve had a couple of probably slight failures in the last couple of seasons, going out in the earlier rounds.
“I think to get into the quarter-finals, that’s progress, but of course, if we’re able to do that then we want to look further, beyond. We have a good squad but there’s many other good squads.”