3 Takeaways from Chelsea Women’s triumph over Real Madrid

Class and quality take over in the end

It was not the most perfect of starts in their third Champions League match of the season, but as the chances continued to go array, the Blues never let that affect them. Fran Kirby’s shot in the opening seconds of the match was deflected wide by the goalkeeper and appeared to inform the crowd that a goal early in the match was bound to happen. In the end, it didn’t, and when the second half came around, Hayes added two dynamic players into the mix, including Lauren James who caused the left-hand side of the opposition’s defense fits almost immediately following her inclusion.

Hayes even said at the end of the match that she thought last season’s team would have been frustrated after a first half like the one on Wednesday. It is the experience of being there before and knowing what it feels like to come out on the losing side of things that makes this team realize matches are won over an entire 90 minutes. To be able to have Johanna Rytting Kaneryd in the starting IX, and present an opportunity to Fran Kirby to get back into regular minutes for the first time since the West Ham United match all the way back in September is a luxury this team loaded with talent possesses.

Real Madrid is going to need to add even more talent like Weir in order to give teams like Chelsea a consistent challenge, and for the Spanish side, there is no break with the Blues up again in the Champions League in the fourth match week. Hayes even had the chance to give an academy player, Ashanti Akpan her first opportunity on the bench at the senior level. Serbian international, Jelena Cankovic is still waiting to make an impact on a regular basis, giving Hayes even more avenues to demonstrate how much depth this team truly has during this campaign.