Hayes can still end on a high after Euro agony
EMMA HAYES’ hopes of a fairytale ending to her Chelsea career may be over but the chance of ending the season with silverware is not. Barcelona may have taken the Champions League away from their grasp in controversial circumstances, but there is still a Women’s Super League title to play for.
Hayes, who described the gamechanging decision to send off Kadeisha Buchanan in the second leg as the ‘worst in the history of the women’s Champions League’, has to find a way to pick herself and her players up. Immediately after the game, when emotions were still high, Hayes was struggling to see beyond the refereeing decisions which had cost Chelsea a shot at European glory.
Asked whether she could take any positives from the way her team competed across two legs with Barcelona, Hayes replied: ‘How would you feel if you were us right now?
‘So how can you take anything? You just hope that you get into these positions. We lose, we lose, I can take it, I genuinely can. It’s just really tough to take this one.’
Chelsea midfielder Melanie Leupolz said Hayes did not have many words in the post-match huddle. ‘She said she is still proud of us,’ Leupolz said.
‘We just focus on the league because we want to have at least one trophy this season.’
As hard as it may be, Chelsea cannot afford to linger on this disappointment. A difficult trip to Liverpool awaits on Wednesday and it is a game they cannot afford to drop points in, with Manchester City six clear at the top of the table.
Chelsea, who have two games in hand, may have to win every match and hope Khadija
Shaw’s season-ending injury stops City from taking maximum points in their remaining fixtures.
In the space of four weeks, Chelsea have gone from competing for a quadruple to facing the possibility of ending the season without a trophy for the first time since 2018-2019. There are three weeks and four games left for Chelsea and Hayes to finish on a high.