It didn’t seem likely going into matchday six of Group A action, but the Chelsea women team have crashed out of the Women’s Champions League just months after finishing as the runner’s up to Barcelona. It was an embarrassing defeat for Emma Hayes’ side, who fell 4-0 to Wolfsburg and all but threw away a spot in the knockout rounds.
Embarrassing Defeat Sees Chelsea Women Knocked Out of Champions League
Rough Start
Chelsea never really seemed to fully get out of the starting gate. From the very beginning, Wolfsburg were handily dealing with all of their attacks and causing trouble at the back. Chelsea found themselves a goal down after just 16 minutes. Normally this would kickstart Emma Hayes’ side into action but on this night, the Blues just rolled over and were two goals down after 23 minutes, both goals were scored by Svenja Huth.
An early substitution saw Ji So-Yun introduced and her impact was noticeable but not enough to spur Chelsea back into the game. Despite a better overall performance in the second half, the English side went onto concede two more goals and went out of the tournament with a whimper.
Questions to Be Asked
Chelsea were not likely to be a Champions League-winning side. The quality of Europe’s top teams is just too high for them to combat right now, but their performances throughout the group stage should raise a lot of questions for Emma Hayes and the clubs’ higher-ups. In both the first and second half against Wolfsburg, the defence was woeful and allowed four easy goals to be scored, two for the aforementioned Huth and two in the second half for Tabea Wassmuth. The defensive side isn’t the only area where Chelsea will have to ask questions, their offence was held goalless in their last two group games, for a club with world-class talents like Sam Kerr, that isn’t good enough.
What Next for Chelsea Women?
With their European hopes dashed, Chelsea will have to readjust and aim to repeat their domestic success of last season. That is already proving difficult as they trail league leaders Arsenal by four points after a shocking loss to Reading. Arsenal, unlike Chelsea, advanced to the next round, which means they will have to fight on multiple fronts towards the end of the WSL campaign which could open the door for a Chelsea comeback.
It will also be interesting to see what, if any, changes are made to the squad to get it closer to the ultimate aim of lifting the Champions League title.
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