Chelsea vs Man City LIVE: Changes for each groups forward of essential Women’s Champions League conflict
Chelsea host Manchester City for the second leg of their Women’s Champions League clash knowing that anything but a strong victory could send them out of the competition.
The two sides have played one another in each of their last three fixtures with Chelsea winning 2-1 twice, in the League Cup final and the Women’s Super League, while City took a 2-0 victory from the first leg of this tie at Joie Stadium in Manchester.
Vivianne Miedema scored both goals in last week’s encounter to give her team a significant advantage. Chelsea will need to score at least three goals to progress as well as keep a clean sheet against a City team with a potent forward line.
Erin Cuthbert’s 91st minute strike was needed to defeat City in the WSL but despite the narrow margin of the results so far Bompastor is confident her team can make it through. She said: “Anything is possible and we have the quality in the squad to turn it around.”
Follow all the updates from the Women’s Champions League with our live blog below:
What next?
The winners of this tie will play reigning champions Barcelona, who swatted aside Wolfsburg 7-1 on aggregate and 3-0 in the second leg earlier tonight.
The semis will be played in the week of 19/20 April, with a spot in Lisbon’s final on Saturday 24 May up for grabs.
Bomastor wants Chelsea to have ‘no regrets’ against Man City
Sonia Bompastor believes Chelsea’s win against Manchester City on Sunday will help her team “mentally” as they attempt to come from behind tonight – and the French coach has told her players to have “no regrets” ahead of the second leg.
“It’s always more difficult when you are losing by two goals, but we are confident, we are playing a home game,” said Bompastor, who suffered her first defeat in charge of Chelsea last week.
“It will be tough and difficult, we know that but we are ready to embrace the challenge. This is what the squad and the club are about.
“It’s a new challenge. We have never been in this situation this season but we are ready. I just want my players at the end of the game to not have any regrets.”
‘You have to remain calm’ – Millie Bright on chasing comeback
Arsenal manager Renee Slegers revealed last night that her half-time message to her players was to remain “calm” if they were to come from behind against Real Madrid.
And that’s exactly the word Millie Bright used as the Chelsea captain spoke about the challenge of coming from 2-0 down against Manchester City.
“It’s a situation where you have to remain calm,” Bright said. “If we look across our last performances there are plenty of positives.
“We’re not in the position we would have liked to have been in but we’re in it, so it’s about reacting, understanding where we’re at.
“We know what we need to do and we’re very confident in ourselves. It’s not an impossible turnaround.”
Man City prepared for ‘the most motivated, aggressive form of Chelsea’
Nick Cushing says Man City are prepared to face “the most motivated, aggressive form of Chelsea” in tonight’s Champions League quarter-final second leg.
“We know how important this competition is for Chelsea. We know what a great team they are,” Cushing said ahead of his latest encounter with Sonia Bompastor, a Champions League winner as a player and coach with Lyon.
“We know that Chelsea are going to be incredibly up for the game, incredibly motivated.
“When you bring in a manager that’s previously won the Champions League, from the most successful women’s team that has ever played the game, you’re making your intentions known that the Champions League is probably the aim.”
Alex Greenwood says Man City players in ‘shock’ at Gareth Taylor departure
City have had the added disruption of a new manager coming in just before this run of four fixtures against Chelsea, with Nick Cushing coming back in to replace Gareth Taylor, who was sacked on the eve of the League Cup final.
Cushing will be hoping the slightly-delayed new manager bounce will come into play as his side hope to build on their two-goal advantage from last week.
How to watch
Viewers in the UK can watch tonight’s clash on TNT Sports or discovery+, or for free via the DAZN YouTube channel.
Kick-off is at 8pm, with live coverage from 7.30pm.
Team news – Chelsea
And five changes for Chelsea: Erin Cuthbert is rewarded for her 91st-minute winner off the bench at the weekend with a starting berth, while Keira Walsh also comes into the starting XI after a substitute appearance.
Nathalie Bjorn and Sandy Baltimore return to the back four and Aggie Beever-Jones is replaced up front by Mayra Ramirez.
Chelsea XI: Hampton; Bronze, Bjorn, Bright (c), Baltimore; Cuthbert, Walsh; Rytting-Kaneryd, Kaptein, James; Ramirez
Substitutes: Spencer, Cox, Lawrence, Charles, Nusken, Jean-Francois, Macario, Hamano, Brown, Beever-Jones
Team news – Manchester City
Three changes for City from their last meeting with Chelsea in the WSL, as Leila Ouahabi, Lily Murphy and Mary Fowler come into the side, while Aleixandri and Hasegawa are both fit to start.
City XI: Keating, Casparij, Prior, Aleixandri (C), Ouahabi, Hasegawa, Roord, Miedema, Kerolin Nicoli, Murphy, Fowler.
Substitutes: Startup, Layzell, Coombs, Wienroither, Park.
Bunny Shaw and Aoba Fujino ruled out of return leg
And more… Manchester City’s record scorer Khadija Shaw and forward Aoba Fujino have been ruled out of tonight’s second leg at Stamford Bridge. The pair have been sidelined since picking up injuries in the League Cup defeat to Chelsea.
“It’s not been ideal over the last two weeks to lose Bunny Shaw and Aoba Fujino, but you look at the group, they’re still training incredibly hard,” said interim boss Nick Cushing, who has also been without Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood.
“I still see the belief. Across the three games I thought we had an incredible threat. I know we will tomorrow night.”
Team news incoming
We’re expecting team news soon, with both sides expected to make changes.
Nathalie Bjorn, Sandy Baltimore, Keira Walsh, Mayra Ramirez and Erin Cuthbert could all make their way back into the starting XI for Chelsea, while Laia Aleixandri and Yui Hasegawa are doubts for the visitors after they were both forced off at the weekend.
Laura Blindkilde-Brown is expected to miss the rest of the season for City after injuring her ankle in training, and injured keeper Ayaka Yamashita will miss out after featuring in the first leg, with Khiara Keating between the sticks again after the WSL defeat this weekend.
