‘We believed it was possible’ – Bompastor reflects on Chelsea’s UWCL victory against Manchester City | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor was proud of her players after they helped the club to advance into the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-finals with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Manchester City.

The Blues went into last night’s quarter-final, second leg tie with a two-goal deficit but goals from Sandy Baltimore, Nathalie Björn and Mayra Ramírez turned the tie in the South West Londoners’ favour.

When speaking to the media after the match, Chelsea boss Bompastor expressed her pride in the team’s performance.

“I think tonight was a perfect night for us being able to play at Stamford Bridge with our fans and being able to turn things around,” Bompastor said. “I’m really proud of my players. It was a difficult challenge but we believed it was possible. I think this belief was something really strong in our side and maybe made the difference.

“The mental aspects in terms of performance are sometimes more than 70-80% of the performance and the result, so I think tonight, it was part of the game. Obviously, it was also to have the belief in the mental strengths going into the game and just to think it was possible to achieve that, even if, again, the challenge was tough.”

Chelsea have now completed four consecutive fixtures against Manchester City and Bompastor highlighted how challenging these games have been.

She said “When you have to play the same team four times in 12 days, that’s a really big challenge and I think City did very well in these four games against us.

“I know they had some injuries and maybe it was something that went more in our favour, because they didn’t have all of their squad.”

Chelsea will face European champions FC Barcelona in the semi-finals but Bompastor wants her players to first enjoy the moment.

She said “Barcelona have a lot of experience, a lot of talent in their squad. It will again be a tough challenge, but in football everything is possible, so I will bring all of the confidence we need to go into those two games.

“First of all, we want to enjoy this moment because it was not easy. We had a really great performance today, so I want to enjoy it and then we have some time to reflect on the games in April against Barcelona.”

Chelsea return to Barclays Women’s Super League action on Sunday when they play host to West Ham United at Kingsmeadow.