Chelsea cruise into WCL knockout stage as Bompastor continues perfect start

Chelsea eased their way into the Women’s Champions League knockout stages with two games to spare after dispatching Celtic at Stamford Bridge.

Lucy Bronze opened the scoring in the second minute with a wonderful volley, and further goals from 19-year-old Wieke Kaptein and Eve Perisset ensured the west London team headed home with three points and a clean sheet.

This was new Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor’s 11th consecutive win in all competitions since she took over from Emma Hayes at the start of the season.

Praising her side’s performance, Bompastor said: ‘I’m really happy. I told the players before the game that tonight was an opportunity to qualify for the quarter-finals, which we made.

‘As a club it’s always important to make sure that after four games you have this opportunity to qualify.

'I think that’s perfect even though as you saw last week and even tonight that everything was not perfect, but in terms of a result we are in a good place.

‘That’s good because it brings a lot of confidence and it’s important for us to continue our run. We work hard and make sure things become easy, even if it’s not always easy.’

So far this season it has been Celtic who have provided the Blues with perhaps one of their toughest moments.

It was in the reverse fixture of tonight’s game where the Glasgow side put Chelsea behind for the first time this season, before goals from Maika Hamano and Ashley Lawrence ensured the damage was undone before the final whistle.

This game was far from that – albeit fleeting – struggle. Chelsea dominated possession and clocked up a total of 25 shots to Celtic’s three.

After Bronze’s second minute goal found the back of Kelsey Daugherty’s net, the signs of a Celtic capitulation started to show.

And while Chelsea did double their lead through Wieke Kaptein just over 20 minutes later, a capitulation wasn’t what followed.

And this was much to the credit of a valiant Celtic defence who fought on until the last moment before an unfortunate hand ball by Shannon McGregor in the penalty area meant Eve Perisset was given a spot-kick at the death, which she coolly converted.

Just a quick word on that Lucy Bronze goal – it was truly something to behold. Chelsea won a corner in the opening seconds and it was taken short to Guro Reiten, whose swinging cross was cleanly met by the laces of the Lioness star just inside the box. While Celtic goalkeeper Daughtery was able to get a hand to it, the ball carried too much punch and Chelsea had their lead.

Bompastor made six changes to the side which swept aside Manchester City at the weekend, with Catarina Macario coming in for Mayra Ramirez and Zecira Musovic starting between the sticks in place of Hannah Hampton.

The Blues have been in imperious form since the end of the Hayes’ tenure – they have not lost since May 1, with their 14-game winning streak in all competitions unmatched since Arsenal in 2018.

And with the games coming thick and fast at this stage of the season, Bompastor will appreciate her seemingly endless squad of superstars.