Chelsea finally break City hoodoo
Chelsea won at rivals Manchester City’s Academy Stadium for the first time as they eventually claimed victory after extra time in a thrilling Women’s League Cup quarter-final.
The holders had not tasted victory on any of their previous seven visits to the ground and that poor record looked set to continue until substitute Niamh Charles’s spectacular late strike made it 2-2 and sent the tie into an additional 30 minutes.
Norway winger Guro Reiten then struck early in extra time before Wales midfielder Sophie Ingle’s sumptuous long-range effort made it 4-2 to book Chelsea a meeting with either West Ham United or Durham in February’s semi-finals. Those two sides play on Thursday.
It was a dramatic result that kept
Chelsea in the hunt for a potential quadruple of major honours this term. The victory was Chelsea’s first at Manchester City since April 2014, when City were still playing at the Manchester Regional Arena, a warm-up venue used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Since that victory, these two sides have lifted a combined 14 of the 19 major domestic honours on offer in the English women’s game, but they are still yet to meet in a cup final. Yet, with no other top-half WSL sides left in the cup, last night’s meeting felt almost as important as a final.
“What we’ve achieved, winning here, it was a little bit of a hurdle for us to overcome, it [had been] embarrassing for us,” Chelsea manager Hayes said.
City’s assistant manager Alan Mahon – taking charge while manager Gareth Taylor continues to selfisolate as a Covid-19 precaution – said: “It’s difficult to take and it’s frustrating that we couldn’t get across the line [in 90 minutes].”
Chelsea deservedly took the lead shortly before half-time through Germany midfielder Melanie Leupolz’s deflected strike. City were gifted a route back thanks to an uncharacteristic error from Chelsea captain Magdalena Eriksson, who dawdled on the ball in her own area, allowing Chloe Kelly to equalise.
City then thought they had won it when Lauren Hemp struck sweetly five minutes from the end of normal time, but Charles controlled the ball on the edge of the box with her chest and then volleyed into the top corner to make it 2-2. Chelsea were the stronger in the extra 30 minutes on a rain-soaked night, as Storm Christoph struck.
Manchester City (4-4-2): Barnsley; Bronze, Houghton, Greenwood (Beckie, 60), Morgan; Stanway, Walsh (Coombs, 46), Scott, Hemp; Kelly, White. Subs Roebuck, Park, Ravening, Phillips, Davies, Window.
Chelsea (4-4-2): Berger; Mjelde, Bright, Eriksson, Andersson; Harder, Leupolz, Ji (Ingle, 82), Cuthbert (Reiten, 61); England, Kerr (Charles, 82) Subs Telford, Blundell, Kirby, Fleming, Spence.