That’s it for today’s blog. It’d be great to carry on and bathe in that extraordinary game, but there’s all sorts going on in Manchester so I need to get on that. Suzanne Wrack’s report will appear here shortly - and then, two weeks today, we’ll have live coverage of Chelsea v Barcelona in the Champions League final. Bye!
“I tell you, I’ve gonna have a nice sing-song and I’m gonna cry all the way home, because [mouths silently] I’m so fucking happy! [You’re the first female manager to make it to the CL final for 12 years]. I don’t think about that, I just want to win. I love winning, it doesn’t bore me. It was important for English football that we made it. It’s one of the best in the world and us getting to the final shuts up Europe, in terms of what we’re doing in this country. And now we’ve gotta face another tough team: Barcelona. Wow.”
That interview was almost as good as the match itself.
“We had to cope with differences. They changed something and then we did. They gave us the counter space, which we got the first goal from. I thought we were terrible at conceding set-pieces. Far too many for my liking. Their goal comes when we don’t have a player on the edge of the box. Whatever, there’s too much technical nonsense that you don’t want to hear about. The team put bodies on the line… and I don’t know any more than that.
“Before the game I played them a video from a UFC star. It was about a minute long and she was talking to herself, saying “I am the best, I am the best.” She won the fight and straight after the fight somebody interviewed her and said, “You were saying to yourself, ‘I am the best’.” And she said, “Yeah but I am the best.” That’s what I said to the players before the game. Someone described us as mentality monsters, and we’re the best, and we’re in this position because we deserve to be.”
More from Emma Hayes
“I’m gonna say this to every coach sitting at home. This is thousands of hours, thousands of hours of travelling, thousands of setbacks. I’m so proud of myself that I got to this level through my hard work and determination, and I’m fortunate enough to be working for a football club that I adore, and to work with a set of players that were always in control. I’m glad they were because I never felt I was!”
Here’s Emma Hayes
“That last three minutes, watching the ball go back and forth in our box... My tummy, you thought it went in other games, that was the worst moment... and then to watch the ball go to Fran. I was thinking, ‘Go one v one’, I didn’t realise they didn’t have a goalkeeper! Oh. I’m not gonna sit and give you crappy platitudes. I worked my whole life for today, and I’m so fuckin proud of those players.”
I think we’ll allow her that one.
The bald facts are that Chelsea will play Barcelona in Gothenburg on 16 May. But that doesn’t begin to do justice to a magnificent, wildly emotional game. The last 10 minutes were among the most dramatic and intense that I’ve seen in any sport. And the wonderful moment when Fran Kirby sealed it, and Emma Hayes immediately broke down, will surely launch a thousand memes.
Beerensteyn was so close to winning that in the 90th minute. Berger made a brilliant save with her feet, but the ball hit Beerensteyn in the six-yard box and bounced towards goal. Beerensteyn was about to ram it into the net when Eriksson improvised to poke it clear.
The Bayern players are broken, Beerensteyn in particular. Emma Hayes is going round the field to commiserate with them all. They gave so much to the game, particularly during an astounding last 10 minutes.
Full time: Chelsea 4-1 Bayern (aggregate: 4-3) That was the last kick of an amazing tie. Players on both sides are in tears, as is Emma Hayes. Just before Kirby’s goal, there was a great chance for Bayern when Dallmann’s cross was headed off target by Asseyi, six yards out. It hit Eriksson and went behind for a corner, and the rest is history.
With the goalkeeper Benkarth still forward, Chelsea won the ball and Kirby was able to run the ball into the empty net. Emma Hayes immediately broke down in tears, and she’s not the only one. That was an astonishing game of football.
CHELSEA ARE IN THE FINAL!
90+4 min: Chance for Bayern! And now another corner. This is it.
90+3 min Cuthbert wastes some time by the corner flag. Chelsea are 20 seconds away from Gothenburg. Not literally.
90+2 min Pernille Harder, who may have scored the winner, is replaced by Drew Spence.
90+2 min Even the keeper Benkarth is forward. Chelsea clear, but only for a throw-in. Zadrazil’s cross breaks for Beerensteyn, whose stinging shot is blocked, and then Kirby does brilliantly to draw a foul from Dallmann.
90+1 min Three minutes of added time. Berger has just wasted 60 seconds, ostensibly with an injury. She’s okay to continue, and Bayern have another corner.
90 min: OFF THE LINE BY ERIKSSON! Oh my goodness! The corner was punched away by Berger, then driven back into the middle. Buhl’s vicious shot was kicked away by Berger, and Beerensteyn’s follow-up was desperately cleared by Eriksson as she fell backwards into the net.
89 min Corner to Bayern. This is unreal. That miss will haunt Sam Kerr forever if Chelsea don’t go through.
88 min: WHAT A CHANCE FOR KERR! Zadrazil’s dangerous cross is headed away by Eriksson, who has had a mighty game. Chelsea break, and in the blink of an eye Kerr is through on goal. She draws Benkarth, opens her body... and sidefoots it just wide!
88 min And now a change for Chelsea: Melanie Leupolz is replaced by Erin Cuthbert.
87 min Another change for Bayern: Simone Laudehr replaces Ilestedt.
86 min Whatever happens in the next four minutes, this has been a sensational game of football.
85 min This is unbearable. Don’t forget that if Bayern score, they will go through on the away goals rule.
Charles drove the free-kick flat and hard towards the near post, where Harder arrived late and steered the deftest of headers past Benkarth!
Chelsea are six minutes away from the final!
83 min Beerensteyn is booked for a studs-up tackle on Carter, just outside the area on the right.
82 min Dallmann’s close-range shot is blocked brilliantly by the stretching Eriksson. Dear me, this is so tense.
81 min A brilliant break from Chelsea. Harder charges forward and finds Kerr, who looks up and floats the ball towards Kerr at the far post. Wenninger gets back to head behind, yet another vital interception. The resulting corner is headed off target by Kerr, under all sorts of pressure at the near post. It wasn’t really a chance.
80 min Buhl has a shot blocked desperately. There isn’t much in it - there hasn’t been throughout the tie - but Bayern look the likelier scorers.
78 min Oh my goodness. Leupolz, 45 yards from her own goal, overhits a backpass to Berger and is extremely relieved to see it go just wide of the near post.
77 min A brilliant header from Kerr releases Charles on the left. Her first-time cross is hooked away at the near post.
76 min Bayern make a double substitution: Carina Wenninger and Viviane Assayi replace Sydney Lohmann and the injured Carolin Simon.
74 min Simon is really struggling, and I’ll be very surprised if she can continue. For now Bayern are down to 10.
73 min Simon is booked for a foul on Kerr. Both were hurt in the challenge, and Simon is still down. She’s holding her right ankle.
69 min Bayern have dominated possession in the second half. I don’t know whether Chelsea are tired or just wary, but at the moment Bayern look the likelier scorers.
68 min Beerensteyn runs 30 yards to the edge of the area and hits a stinging shot that is blocked by Bright.
67 min Ji lofts a clever first-time pass down the left to Harder. Her cross eventually comes to Ingle, whose shot is blocked. Chelsea keep the ball alive, and moments later Ingle curls a dangerous cross that just evades Kerr (I think) in the middle.
67 min Sheesh this is tense. A goal for either team would put them on the brink of their first ever Champions League final.
65 min “Hi Rob,” says Ursula. “According to German channel Sport 1, Chelsea didn’t provide proper changing rooms with showers and refuse to provide the correct matchball. Could this be true?”
Well it could, but I haven’t heard anything about it. If true, it’s very weird behaviour.
64 min An ingenious flick from Lohmann finds Dallmann, whose cross is kicked away by Bright this time. This is a great spell for Bayern.
64 min The resulting corner flashes across the six-yard box and just past the far post. Bayern are so threatening on set-pieces.
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