Chelsea Women: Erin Cuthbert’s away goal keeps Champions League tie alive
By Vishnu Raj
Chelsea’s Women faced three-time defending champion Lyon in the first leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinals at OL Stadium in France.
In the 2017/18 season, Chelsea won the FA Cup at three levels: the Men’s, Women’s and Youth team all won their respective FA Cup. This year, all three teams are in the quest to achieve success in Europe. While the men’s team reached the semifinal of the Europa League, Chelsea’s Women’s team reached the semifinal of UEFA Women’s Champions League and the Youth team reached the UEFA Youth League semifinal.
Before the match, Chelsea manager Emma Hayes pointed out how important the first 20-25 minutes are for the Blues. Lyon is the best team in Women’s football. They have won the Champions League for the past three seasons and have scored a massive 82 goals from their 20 league matches.
Chelsea needed a last-minute away goal from Maren Mjelde against Paris Saint-Germain to reach the semifinal. PSG is the second best team in France, only three points behind Lyon. Chelsea knew they were in for an even more difficult match.
The Blues were truly unlucky with the two goals they conceded in Sunday’s first leg against Lyon. First was an own goal from Magda Eriksson. It was incredibly cruel on Eriksson since it was her last-minute own goal that sealed Chelsea’s fate in the FA Cup semi-final a week before, with Manchester City progressing to the final 1-0.
Even though Chelsea immediately tried to strike back, 11 minutes later Lyon found the back of the net again. It was yet another unfortunate goal as the ball somehow stroked Armandine Henry’s hair before going in with confusion all around the back.
Emma Hayes’s team were not ready to give up, and they gave Lyon enough trouble as half-time approached. Ramona Bachmann, Hayes’ best player in the first half, went down after a touch from Eugenie Le Sommer inside the penalty box. Kirby’s kick was saved by Lyon’s goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, who was well away from the goal line.
Mjelde, almost immediately after the start of the second half, had a chance to get one back but her effort was well-saved by Bouhaddi. Lyon kept asking questions, but Chelsea’s defense and Ann-Katrin Berger kept them at bay. The next big moment came minutes after Beth England replaced Kirby in the 69′. England headed down Ji So-Yun’s ball for Cuthbert, who brilliantly found the back of the net to give Chelsea an important away goal.
England’s introduction gave new life to the Blues’ attack. Bachmann was replaced by Engman after Bachmann had been attracting referee’s attention with a series of fouls. By then Chelsea was matching Lyon and was growing in confidence. They managed to keep the score at 2-1 with everything still to play for next week.
Chelsea’s defense under Millie Bright was terrific in keeping Lyon’s attack, which included Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg, silent. Despite heart-breaking own goals, Magda Eriksson went on with her job. The only concern would be the slight trouble Delphine Cascarino was giving to Jonna Andersson.
Fran Kirby experienced a day to forget. She was unable to contribute much to the attack and her penalty was saved. Although Chelsea goalkeeper Berger could have done better with the second goal, she was rock solid since then. Chelsea struggled to find their passes and the initial pressure from Lyon players. They need to be on the game from minute one at Kingsmeadow. They should remember Lyon won 2-1 at home against Wolfsburg before winning 4-2 away in the previous round.
Even though the match ended 2-1 to Lyon, Hayes will be more than happy with the second half response from her team as they welcome Lyon to Kingsmeadow next Sunday. Cuthbert’s goal was only the fourth Lyon have conceded all season at home.
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Chelsea’s quest for Champions League title ended at the semifinal stage last year. With the league title and FA Cup gone, this is their last chance at silverware this year and Hayes’s team will be more than ready to make sure their run does not end at the semifinal two years in a row.