Being held to a 1-1 draw against FC Twente, with the Dutch club opening the score, was something Chelsea Women really needed to compensate in the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage. Missing out on three points being only a part of the reason why the Blues needed to bounce back at the continental stage as soon as they got the chance to.
You could argue luck was the no.1 factor in that failure to beat Twente in the opening match of the Champions League. In fact you can’t count yourself unlucky
in football if you don’t try to make your luck first and foremost, and Chelsea did that against Twente last week and also today at Stamford Bridge against Paris FC.
At first it seemed the Blues would be culprits of their own undoing with several chances amiss. Sandy Baltimore put a definitive end to it with a well-taken penalty spot kick after Sjoeke Nüsken suffered a foul in our area.
The Parisian side tried twice to equalise via Clara Matéo, but well-put blocks stopped that from happening. A few minutes later Johanna Rytting Kaneryd put the finishing touch on a good Alyssa Thompson cross to put us two goals in front of Paris FC.
Aggie Beever-Jones almost made it 3-0 before the end of the first half with a great headed flick on a near post run from a corner kick. But the ball hit the crossbar and didn’t cross the goal line.
We needn’t worry for long. Only a minute after kick-off, Thompson would add a third for the Blues.
And after a whole bunch of subs including Sam Kerr getting on the pitch, we got a fourth goal with Erin Cuthbert giving the final push for the Australian striker’s finish.
Carefree!
- Sandy Baltimore back in the starting lineup.
- Another well taken spot kick from Sandy when we needed it the most.
- Alyssa Thompson is so young and already so good. If only Lauren James managed to stay healthy for extended periods of time…
- Next up: London City Lionesses at home in the Women’s Super League.
- KTBFFH!
