Manchester City’s women’s team delivered a stunning upset to Chelsea’s undefeated streak, under the helm of manager Sonia Bompastor, in a memorable battle at the Academy Stadium. A pair of goals from the exceptional Vivianne Miedema secured a 2-0 victory for City in the opening leg of their Champions League quarter-final matchup.
This match marked the second of four sequential showdowns between these fierce rivals. Despite a rash of injuries, Manchester City displayed remarkable resilience, with Miedema’s record-setting scoring prowess giving them a commanding position ahead of next week’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.
The question at hand was how to strategize for a second chess-like match against the same adversary. However, as long as Miedema was on the field, the answer seemed inconsequential. In the League Cup final, in which City fell to Bompastor’s Chelsea at Pride Park, the Sky Blues had posed significant challenges, dominating possession and making 36 incursions into the opposition’s box compared to Chelsea’s 15.
Interim manager Nick Cushing, reinstated for this quartet of matches in the wake of Gareth Taylor’s dismissal, could have justified sticking with the same strategy seen in Derby. However, a series of forced changes made that impossible.
The unbeaten Chelsea seemed to have the edge, and the scales tilted further in their favor when the lineup was announced. City’s side was missing key players like striker Khadija Shaw and Aoba Fujino, who scored City’s tying goal in their 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in the cup final. Meanwhile, former Arsenal forward Miedema found herself on the bench.
Chelsea, on the other hand, saw the return of Keira Walsh and Aggie Beever-Jones to the starting XI, replacing Sjoeke Nüsken and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd.
Cushing had previously stated that the cup final defeat would act as “fuel for this team” going into the Champions League quarter-final first leg. His side, despite their injury woes, proved him right by effectively holding Chelsea at bay in the initial half of the match, even without Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood, who were out for the long term.