Hayes: I’ve waited nine years for this day
Harder 27 pen, Kerr 32, Kirby 81
Chelsea win 5-1 on agg
Years of “sleepless nights” were worth it, declared an overjoyed Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, after her side knocked out their Champions League nemesis Wolfsburg for the first time to reach the semi-finals and remain in the hunt for their first European title.
Hayes has always seen two-time champions and five-time finalists Wolfsburg “as the benchmark”, along with holders Lyon, and recalled the pain and “humiliation” of being eliminated by the German club on three separate occasions.
This time, Hayes’s team did not just beat last year’s runners-up. Frankly, they thrashed them.
Leading 2-1 from the first leg, Chelsea were resounding secondleg winners thanks to Pernille Harder’s penalty against her old club and clinical finishes from in-form strike duo Sam Kerr and Fran Kirby.
“I’ve waited nine years for today,” Hayes said. “This is not just a win to get through to the semi finals. This is a nine-year project and I think it’s a really big day for us and a really big day for women’s football in England.
“It probably ranks as my favourite win in charge. I don’t think Europe has taken English football too seriously up until now. That changes.”
No British side have reached a European women’s final since 2007, when Arsenal claimed the nation’s only continental title, and Hayes – who has been in charge since 2012 – is determined to go all the way.
“I’m not in this tournament to get knocked out. I’m in it to win it,” she added. “We have faced that opponent [Wolfsburg] so many times in Europe and felt humiliated. I always thought they were the benchmark for Europe along with Lyon. I’ve had thousands of hours waking up in the middle of the night scribbling about this feeling that I wanted. All those sleepless nights were worth it.”
After a shaky defensive display in the first leg, Hayes’s back four were rock solid at the tie’s neutral venue in Budapest yesterday, while her big-name strikers delivered again.
Harder calmly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the penalty spot in the 27th minute, after Kerr had been brought down on the edge of the box, and soon afterwards Kerr showed excellent close control in the area to turn and fire home from close range. That left the German club needing four goals to go through and the English league leaders had the strength to control the remainder of the tie until Kirby netted a late third on the counterattack.
Hayes’s team are still in contention for a potential quadruple of major trophies this term, holding a two-point lead at the top of the Women’s Super League with four games remaining and having already lifted the League Cup.
They will now face either Bayern Munich or Rosengard in the semi-finals. Those sides play their second leg tonight, with Bayern 3-0 up from their first leg.
Wolfsburg (4-4-2) Kiedrzynek; Hendrich, Doorsounkhajeh, Janssen, Rauch; Huth, Engen (Cordes 85), Popp, Rolfo (Van de Sanden 60); Blomqvist (Svava 75), Pajor (Jakabfi 75). Subs Schult (g), Abt (g), Blasse, Saevik, Wolter, Dickenmann, Wedemeyer, Goessling.
Chelsea (4-3-3) Berger; Carter, Bright, Eriksson, Andersson; Leupolz (Ji 78), Ingle (Spence 84), Cuthbert (Fleming 78); Kirby, Harder, Kerr (Reiten 63)
Subs Musovic (g), Telford (g), Blundell, England, Fox, Beever-jones. Booked Kirby.
Referee Anastasia Pustovoitova (Russia).