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.
Seven of the eight goals scored at Kingsmeadow being converted by two players tells the entire story of how dominant Chels’ was on home turf. Vllaznia managed just one shot, and three attacks through 90 minutes. Clearly, Leka’s team’s proficiency in the domestic league does not translate quite yet to the Champions League. Since its trip to southwest London, Vllaznia has outscored its league opposition 36-0, netting six or more goals in four of those seven league contests. In the Champions League, Leka’s side was able to prevent a breakthrough for the first 54 minutes against Real Madrid and frustrated PSG on their home field until it took the lead in the 39’ and never looked back.
The Vllaznia fans no doubt made their presence known at Kingsmeadow with the amount of support that made it 2,409 kilometers across Europe. There is not much hope for Leka’s side against Hayes and CFC, and after the west London side fell short of qualification in Spain, it would be quite a full circle moment to clinch a place past the group stage nearly a year since the infamous match against the Wolves in Germany. Most of this match is going to be mental for the west London club. On the road in a tough environment, and with the anniversary looming in its minds, the Blues must block out all the outside noise to take care of business.
Pernille Harder played a key part in opening up the Vllaznia defense back in October, but over the last few matches, the Blues have begun to understand what it is going to take to succeed without the Danish midfielder going forward. Given the way Jelena Cankovic played at Kingsmeadow against Reading, Hayes could see this as a chance to deploy her as a No. 10 for the second game running to see if she can produce another outing like that once again.
After the way Kerr failed to convert in the Spanish capital, this has to be a game the Australian has marked on her calendar as one to get her confidence back where it needs to be. After netting four goals against Vllaznia, Kerr went on a streak of scoring at least one goal in five straight matches in all competitions including at the international level.
Zecira Musovic has contributed to just one match so far this season, and given the importance of possessing two goalkeepers, Hayes needs to give Musovic time between the sticks, especially after Ann-Katrin Berger’s mistake at Real Madrid. For CFC, it is a contest it should win with relative ease, and while its focus will most likely be on the meeting with PSG at Stamford Bridge, sealing the deal in Albanian will make the matchup with the current Division 1 Feminine leaders less stressful than it has to be.
Hayes will be hoping for a complete performance this time around compared to the previous two games. It is all about taking just one step at a time toward that ultimate goal, and while a meeting with Vllaznia is not the most eye-catching, it is a chance to work on different things that might help later on in the season.