Chelsea beat Wolfsburg for the first time in seven attempts and took a 2-1 lead going into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie, after goals from Sam Kerr and former Wolfsburg forward Pernille Harder rewarded a dramatic second half.
Wolfsburg had dominated, but were wasteful, and Emma Hayes’ team would ensure a classic game of two halves, a penalty conceded by Chelsea captain Magda Eriksson and converted by Dominique Janssen the only blot on a battling victory.
Chelsea struggled to get a grip on the game in midfield with Wolfsburg captain Alex Popp at the centre of their early dominance.
Ewa Pajor ended a blistering run on the right, with the German champions targeting Chelsea left-back Jonna Andersson, with a flick on to Popp and the 29-year-old’s effort hit a post that stand-in right-back Niamh Charles cleared.
Moments later the ball ricocheted off Popp’s hand and into the goal but referee Jana Adamkova was alert and the German was given a yellow card.
A double save from last-16 hero Ann-Katrin Berger again spared Chelsea’s blushes. She twice blocked from Fridolina Rolfö before Andersson cleared off the line from Pajor’s overhead kick on the rebound.
It was a humbling start for Chelsea. Hayes warned there is still a gap to close between Wolfsburg and Lyon and the rest of Europe before the game. “Lyon and Wolfsburg have been professional for so much longer,” she said. “So that advantage was built up over a number of years and you can’t make that up quickly, even if you turn professional, they’re so used to being at that stage of the competition again, and again and again, that experience counts.”
Whether it was that, or the weight of five defeats and one draw in the six previous meetings of these two teams in the Champions League, Chelsea were uncharacteristically against the ropes.
In the second half a markedly different team emerged and bodies poured forward leaving Kerr less isolated. Pajor clipped a cross in from the right but Rolfö’s header spun off the bottom of a post and Chelsea pounced, to punish Wolfsburg’s profligacy.
The goal came as Fran Kirby slipped a first-time pass to Kerr who waited for goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek to commit before firing high into the net from a tight angle.
With fire in their bellies Chelsea went on the hunt and it was Harder who doubled the lead against her former team. A short goal kick from Kiedrzynek towards Kathrin Hendrich was stolen by Kirby, she passed infield to Kerr who fed Harder on her right and the Danish forward slipped the ball into the net.
With Chelsea on top Wolfsburg needed to regroup. A rash challenge on Svenja Huth from Eriksson handed them a lifeline after Janssen coolly blasted in the resulting penalty.
Chelsea were made to work hard as Wolfsburg flooded forward but they met a resilient wall of blue. Chelsea have a small advantage going into the second leg, but there will be huge confidence taken from their first win against Wolfsburg.
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2OVkr4T
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