CUSHING’S SUPER CITY MARCH INTO THE LAST 16
AFTER enjoying domestic domination, Manchester City manager Nick Cushing wants his side to conquer Europe after they secured their spot in the Champions League last16 in midweek with a convincing 6-0 aggregate win against Zvezda 2005.
Having already secured the Women’s Super League 1 title and Continental Tyres Cup on these shores, Cushing believes his team have the ability to compete with the best, but is wary against becoming complacent.
He said: “The fact this football club is in this competition shows that we want to be one of the best in Europe.
“We know that in this next round it will be 16 top sides and we’ve got to be realistic.
“We just want to be competitive and we can’t look past the next round. We have to prepare for whoever it is. If we’re the best versions of ourselves it will be a great marker for us to know where this team is at.”
After winning the first leg 2-0, City travelled to Russia and finished the job in style. They scored four times without reply thanks to a brace from Jennifer Beattie, and goals from Lucy Bronze and Izzy Christiansen either side of half-time.
Cushing was pleased with the way his team dictated the game and continued their impressive form.
He added: “I thought we’d score here and we did. We wanted to be a little more in control of the game and in their half of the pitch and we took advantage of the spaces.
“The players showed complete control, even when we made changes. When you score four and don’t concede in your firstever Champions League away game, I’m really pleased.”
City will be looking to use this momentum to go as far as they can in the competition, with the draw for the last-16 taking place tomorrow.
Elsewhere, despite being eliminated from the competition, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes praised her players for their character in bouncing back from their disappointing first-leg defeat at home to German giants Wolfsburg.
Having lost 3-0 in their first-ever game at Stamford Bridge, the Blues drew the return fixture 1-1 on Wednesday, Eni Aluko netting, and Hayes was delighted with the display.
She said: “The result and the performance helps to restore some pride.
“We have a lot of experience in our team, and the disappointment of the first leg has driven us to this performance, but it shouldn’t have come to that.” Ahead of the two-leg tie, Chelsea had talked about their desire to show the gap between England’s elite and the rest of Europe was closing. And Hayes added: “Maybe we are not so far away from progressing in this competition and maybe when this team performs at the level they produced (in the second leg), we can have many good nights in Europe.”