Bright wins it for Chelsea: lessons learned in first UCL match

It had been over 10 months since Chelsea stepped on a football pitch in the Champions League, and right from kick-off, the Blues seemed ready to rewrite their shocking ending to last season’s campaign. Led by stability in the back through Millie Bright, and Kadeisha Buchanan, Chelsea stalled Paris Saint-Germain on its home turf, shutting it out in the Champions League for the first time since April of 2021 in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the competition against French foe, Lyon. PSG was not only without its all-time leading goal-scorer, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, but the in-form Dutch international, Lieke Martens was a late scratch due to illness.

Most of the attacking duties fell on former Blue Ramona Bachmann, captain Grace Geyoro, and the 19-year-old, Laurina Fazer. There may have been some moments of creativity, especially from Fazer, but the backline for CFC pieced together a masterclass in a building that has fond memories of giving up two goals that nearly cost the Blues a spot in the semifinals. Erin Cuthbert and Sophie Ingle dominated the middle of the park for Chelsea, and while they did not enjoy the majority of the ball, there was never a moment where the Blues looked to be out of control.

After their fourth straight win in all competitions, Paul Green reflected on the team’s outing in Paris:

"“It proves that we can go anywhere, perform and get a good result,” Green said. “To come away from home and to get a good result against PSG….it is a fantastic result which will give us confidence going into the rest of the campaign. “We need to show that we are good enough across the whole group but it’s a fantastic start. We’ve got to carry that through the remaining games and make sure that we accumulate the number of points that we need to get out of the group.”"

Following the stunning volley by Bright after 30 minutes, CFC came out of the locker room with a much more composed game plan, playing much further back, and letting the relentlessness, and grit of Cuthbert, along with the speed up top create counters going the other way. Taking on a team that was picked to be at the top of the group along with the Blues, Denise Reddy, and Chelsea made it an even more difficult task for the ambitious PSG to get back to the round that Lyon eliminated in the previous campaign.

Last season, the west London side began its Champions League campaign with a 3-3 draw against Wolfsburg, already finding itself in a better position to advance compared to last season. Even though Sam Kerr continues to look unlike herself, the Blues still discovered ways to break open a contest that for the most part was very cagey. From a much-needed clean sheet against opposition in Europe, here are the lessons learned from the Blues’ perfect start to the Champions League.