It was a sunny day in northern Spain with Chelsea Women sitting on top of a three-goal lead in the aggregate scoreline versus Real Sociedad. They were competent competition in the first leg but the overnight change in management, with Arturo Ruiz moving to Brighton just a few days ago, clearly unsettled the squad.
The hosts at Estadio Izan were doing what they could to find a goal and maybe begin the unlikely turnaround in their fortunes. The Blues were happy to let them do it and hit back with very
sharp forward passes and runs that could only be stopped by the opposing goalkeeper every now and then.
Real Sociedad seemed way more accepting of their fate in the second half. That’s when Chelsea pulled out their claws, and Keira Walsh hit a nice long range shot that finally beat Julia Arrula. 1-0, Chelsea.
There was hardly anything the Spanish team could do after that goal. In fact Chelsea looked like the team more likely to score after the opener but they weren’t in the mood to try hard enough to do it.
Carefree!
- Young Alexia Potter starts in midfield today.
- Can’t really fault Chelsea for their more lax approach in this first half. Gotta reserve energy for whatever’s next.
- Great second half effort. Bodes well for our next run of games in comparison to the first 45 minutes of the season a week ago.
- On to the Women’s Champions League group stage, we go!
- Next up: Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge for our Women’s Super League opener.
- KTBFFH!
