Chelsea beat Roma 6-0 at Stamford Bridge to move one win away from directly progressing to the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals.
Sonia Bompastre’s side needed a win to take their fate into their own hands after dropping points against Twente and Barcelona, but they achieved the win in emphatic fashion, beating the eliminated visiting Italian team.
It was also a welcome result after Sunday’s 34-game unbeaten run in the Women’s Super League ended against Everton.
Johanna Ritting-Canellid scored Chelsea’s third goal just before half-time.
Chelsea took the lead with an early own goal. Sandy Baltimore’s cross from the left was too high for Sam Kerr, but Roma defender Valentina Bergamaschi inadvertently headed the ball past her own goalkeeper.
Before half an hour had passed it was 2-0, Joanna Ritting Canelid nodded in a high ball and Vike Kaptein slotted it into the bottom corner.
The contest was effectively over by halftime. Niamh Charles worked towards the byline and pulled the ball into the goal. Goalkeeper Olivi Lukasova took a shot, but Litting Canelido, who was there, put the rebound into the net.
In the 51st minute, Szeke Nusken was awarded a penalty after being kicked by Marta Pandini in the box. The German got up and kicked the penalty himself, making the score four.
Guro Leiten set up Maika Hamano, who tapped in with 13 minutes left to make it five points.
Lucy Bronze then scored in the 86th minute when she toyed with defenders and sent a cross over the head of the goalkeeper.
The defeat of Roma moves Chelsea into third place in the table, and the Blues believe they will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals if they win their final group game against Wolfsburg next Wednesday.
Bompastor: “There’s always drama when you lose, so it’s important to bounce back.”
Chelsea bounced back from Sunday’s shock WSL defeat
Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastre told Disney+: “It was really important for us to win.
“Every time Chelsea lose a game it’s big drama for everyone. We know that and we know what we expect from ourselves.
“It’s really important that we bounce back from that loss and perform tonight and get a lot of goals from different players.”
On keeping the players motivated and fresh: “It’s very easy to keep the players motivated because they want to play. I think we’re used to it when you’re playing every three days.
“The main challenge is keeping them fresh, so it was good to rotate the team a little bit tonight. It gave players who haven’t been given as much time to play and perform an opportunity and showed me that they’re there to help the team.”
“Our expectation is we want to finish in the top four just to get through so we don’t have to play two more games. So that’s what we want to do, but it’s going to be a tough game (next week).”
“We needed to bounce back from the loss against Everton.”
Vike Kaptein scores Chelsea’s second goal.
Chelsea midfielder Wike Kaptein told Disney+:
“I think we needed to bounce back from the last game.
“We’re doing well in the Champions League, but today we have to keep winning. We have a lot of goalscorers, a lot of different players, so that’s really pleasing.”
On aiming for automatic qualification: “I think every club in the Champions League wants that.
“We really want to get there. We have a game against Wolfsburg next week. We will try to win and the result will be what happens.”
Bright: Wolfsburg game was ‘massive’
Chelsea captain Millie Bright spoke to Disney+ about the importance of next Wednesday’s game against Wolfsburg:
“It’s very competitive. If you look at the league standings, you can see that the points are close, so we have to take every chance we get.
“Our mindset going into these two games was that we had to win these two games to set our sights on finishing in the top four and qualifying.
“When you play for one of the best clubs in the world, you have to be prepared to compete, take responsibility and make sure you perform every week.”
