Aiming to leave last season’s demons behind: Chelsea v Vllaznia part II

Only two matches remain before a 23-day break for the Blues until a return to action in the Women’s Super League for a top-of-the-table clash against Arsenal. The focus for Emma Hayes and CFC is to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Champions League, something they failed to do in dramatic fashion in the previous campaign. A win over Los Blancos would have confirmed the Blue’s status in the next round, but a hard-fought draw in Madrid pushed the opportunity down the road against the Albanian side, Vllaznia.

The match will be played precisely one day after the one-year anniversary of the 4-0 disaster at the AOK Stadion in Wolfsburg, Germany. If the Blues are able to avoid defeat against a side that has failed to score a goal through the entire group stage on Friday night or Real Madrid falls short against Paris Saint-Germain, CFCW will officially have erased the demons of last season in the Champions League group stage.

While the Blues trounced the nine-time Albanian league winners 8-0 at Kingsmeadow, Chelsea has to know that going on the road in Europe’s most prestigious competition is not the most straightforward task. Nikolin Leka and his Vllaznia side are using this year’s campaign in the Champions League to learn and grow. Just two of the 25 players on the roster are at least 28 years old, and five of them are 20 years old or younger.