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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jonathan Liew at Wembley

Chelsea’s dominance begins to erode the scale of their achievement

Chelsea Sonia Bompastor Erin Cuthbert Jason Wilcox Manchester United Celin Bizet Dominique Janssen Guro Reiten Jim Ratcliffe Sandy Baltimore
Guro Reiten replaces Sandy Baltimore as Sonia Bompastor rings the changes
Guro Reiten replaces Sandy Baltimore as Sonia Bompastor rings the changes. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Your name is Sonia Bompastor. Your Chelsea team are winning 3-0 in the FA Cup final and about to cap a 30-game unbeaten domestic season with a league, cup and league cup treble. Wembley is a sea of triumphant blue flags. Manchester United, shuffling and straggling around the pitch, look like the victims of some macabre reality television endurance challenge that will later be censured by Ofcom. What is your next move?

Well, if you’re Bompastor, your next move is to make a triple substitution in the 93rd minute. On come Guro Reiten, Sjoeke Nüsken, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. Just in case. Just to see things out. Just the 198 international caps, 14 league titles and 26 major trophies, casually hauled off the bench in injury time of an already won cup final. And for Chelsea this really was the most insouciant flex: the victory lap before the victory lap, the £50 tip you give the waiter just because you can.

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