Chelsea Ladies have booked their place in the last 16 of the Women’s Champions League after they survived a late scare to edge out German side Bayern Munich on away goals in their last 32 tie.
Leading 1-0 from the home leg, Chelsea doubled their advantage on the hour mark through Fran Kirby before a Gemma Davison’s own goal and Lucie Vonkova’s tap-in turned the game around for the Germans on the night. However Chelsea held on to secure a last 16 place despite surviving a late scare after the Germans had a goal disallowed.
Women’s FA Cup winners in England, Manchester City, can join Chelsea in the last 16. They lead Austrian side St Polten 3-0 in their tie ahead of their second leg clash in England on Thursday.
Speaking after her team booked a last 16 spot, Chelsea Ladies boss Emma Hayes said:
“It’s probably the biggest win in my tenure at the club. I think this shows how far we’ve come in the time I’ve been here and what amazing characters we have.
“We’ve had four games in 14 days so there was a tiredness in the team. We really had to dig deep, show our resilience and our leadership and the girls hung on in what was probably the longest 25 minutes of my life.
“It was backs-to-the-wall stuff and it’s probably my proudest night as Chelsea manager.”
Bayern Munich: Zinsberger, Lewandowski, Demann, Berhinger (c), Rolfo, Skorvankova, Maier (Beerensteyn 71), Laudehr, Faisst, Islacker (Vonkova 56), Rolser (Leupolz 56)
Subs not used: Korpela, Roord, Wieder, Wenninger.
Chelsea: Lindahl; Bright, Flaherty, Eriksson, Blundell (Carney 77) Chapman (c), Mjelde, Thorisdottir, Spence (Dunn 55), Kirby (Davison 63), Bachmann.
Subs not used: Spencer, Aluko, Ji, Cuthbert.
Referee: Katalin Kulcsar (HUN)
Other Results:
WFC Rossiyanka 0-4 Stjarnan Women (Agg 1-5)
VfL Wolfsburg Ladies 12-2 Atlético de Madrid Femenino (Agg 15-2)
Brøndby IF Ladies 1-3 LSK Kvinner (Agg 1-3)
Linköpings FC 3-0 Apollon Ladies FC (Agg 4-0)
Sparta Prague Women 3-0 FC PAOK (Agg 8-0)
Zvezda 2005 Women 0-2 Montpellier Féminines (Agg 1-2)
Barcelona Femenino 2-0 Avaldsnes IL (Agg 6-0)
Lyon Féminines 9-0 Medyk Konin (Agg 14-0)
Slavia Prague Women 4-3 ZFK Minsk (Agg 7-4)
FC Zürich Frauen 1-2 Gintra Universitetas (Agg 2-3)
Rosengård Women 4-0 CFF Olimpia Cluj (Agg 5-0)
