Chelsea cruised to a 14th straight victory in all competitions with a crushing win over Twente in the Women’s Champions League.
There were six different home goalscorers at Stamford Bridge as Catarina Macario, Oriane Jean-François, Mayra Ramírez, Erin Cuthbert, Sjoeke Nüsken and Eve Périsset ensured the Blues remained ahead of Real Madrid in Group B. With qualification to the quarter-finals already secured thanks beating Celtic last time out, this victory ensured that the battle to finish top would go down to the final match day.
“We want to finish top of the table,” Sonia Bompastor said. “That’s our ambition. We needed to focus on Twente tonight, making sure we had all the ingredients to perform. We have one game left against a team that maybe has more experience. It’s away and we just need to make sure that we work hard in training.”
Chelsea have been in sensational form this season and they returned to Stamford Bridge looking to keep up their 100 per cent record.
Celtic were consigned to a fifth straight defeat in the Champions League after Signe Bruun hit a double for Real Madrid in a 3-0 win.
The Scottish club had been thrashed 4-0 in Spain in the reverse fixture, but produced a brave display at New Douglas Park. It took a special strike by Bruun after 30 minutes to open the scoring and the Madrid forward added another after the break before Alba Redondo struck a third late on.
In Wednesday's other ties Sveindís Jónsdóttir came off the bench to score four times in the second half as Wolfsburg thumped Roma 6-1 and Lyon hammered Galatasaray 6-0 in Turkey, the French side's fifth win in five.
Bompastor has spoken about the value of a deep squad and the Chelsea manager rang the changes once more. Just four players remained from Sunday’s 4-2 league victory over Brighton as Niamh Charles made her first start since dislocating her shoulder in pre-season. Millie Bright was one of those who retained her spot, the captain having celebrated her 10th anniversary at the club this week.
Twente were clear underdogs, having been eliminated and a sole victory over Celtic keeping them off the bottom. Joran Pot’s team are a young group – Van Dooren is the Dutch side’s oldest player at 25 – and at a different stage of their journey.
It took just two minutes for Chelsea to take the lead as their attack put the Twente defence under immediate pressure. The initial break from Ramírez and Macario looked to have fizzled out until the latter produced a sweetly struck lob that dipped over the goalkeeper Olivia Clark.
The hosts dominated the first half-hour as they controlled possession. A failure to put opportunities away, however, gave Twente a lifeline when Maika Hamano pulled Hulst to the ground in the box.
Van Dooren’s clinical penalty drew the visitors back into the match but for only about a minute, as the Blues responded immediately when Jean-François drifted past several defenders to score her first goal for the club.
It was the impetus Chelsea needed as they upped their level once again and continued to torment the visitors’ defence. Ramírez added a third with a spectacular 40-yard effort before Cuthbert also got her name on the scoresheet on her 50th WCL appearance to make it comfortable at half-time.
Changes at the break did little to alter proceedings, the fresh legs only giving Chelsea more energy. Nüsken, on for Nathalie Björn, added another within two minutes of entering the field as the Blues’ domination continued.
A late strike from Périsset rounded off a comfortable night for Chelsea. With Real Madrid beating Celtic, the winner of Group B will be decided when the two come head-to-head at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano on Tuesday.
