A dramatic final 15 minutes saw Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor sent off after Sjoeke Nusken gave the Blues late hope in the Women’s Champions League quarter-final second leg, but Arsenal advanced 3-2 on aggregate.
Nusken’s fourth-minute injury-time strike secured a 1-0 win for Chelsea on the night, yet it proved insufficient to overturn the 3-1 deficit from the first leg. Chelsea had several chances across the tie and were left to rue missed opportunities.
Around the 80th minute Stina Blackstenius thought she had sealed Arsenal’s place in the semi-finals with a header, but VAR ruled the goal out for offside. Chelsea pressed immediately after, with Nusken twice missing earlier openings in the match and later forcing a spectacular save from Arsenal keeper Daphne van Domselaar. Van Domselaar also kept out a powerful Lauren James effort; Veerle Buurman struck the rebound onto the post. Buurman’s goal had been disallowed by VAR in the first leg.
In the fourth of five added minutes, Nusken fired Chelsea ahead, setting up a frantic finish. Bompastor, who had been vocal with officials after Buurman’s first-leg goal was ruled out for a supposed foul on Laia Codina, was furious when Katie McCabe was not penalised for pulling the hair of Alyssa Thompson. Instead of a card for McCabe, Bompastor received a yellow for her protests. Less than a minute later she tried to retrieve the ball from an Arsenal player and, encroaching on the pitch amid a melee, earned a second yellow and a red. She watched the remaining moments from behind the plexiglass by the Stamford Bridge tunnel.
Chelsea ultimately finished frustrated. Thompson, Nusken and Sam Kerr all threatened, but it was too late to remain in the competition Chelsea have yet to win. Arsenal will meet either Lyon or Wolfsburg in the semi-finals; Wolfsburg lead 1-0 from the first leg and play the second leg on Thursday. The semi-final first legs are scheduled for April 24/26 with return legs on May 1/3.
Team news headlines
– Sam Kerr kept her place in Chelsea’s starting XI while Bompastor made two changes from the weekend win over Aston Villa.
– Stina Blackstenius returned to the Arsenal XI, with Emily Fox and Caitlin Foord also coming back into the side; Smilla Holmberg, Chloe Kelly and Frida Maanum were on the bench.
Bompastor was incensed by the decision not to send McCabe off, calling it a “clear” red card. “The disappointment is huge,” she said after the match. “We wanted to come into this game and give our all. In terms of performance we did what we had to do, we created a lot of opportunities but we didn’t score. That is the reality. That is why we are not qualified for the semi-finals.”
On the hair pull, Bompastor added: “For me, it is clearly a red card for the Arsenal player. She’s pulling Alyssa Thompson’s hair. If the VAR is not able to check that situation, I don’t know why we have the VAR. She doesn’t have a red card – it is clearly a red card – and, yeah, I go on my emotions. I shouldn’t but, at the end, I’m the one with the red card… If you look at all the decisions in the first leg and second leg, that’s part of the result at the end. That’s really disappointing.”
Bompastor said she had not spoken to the officials: “No, I don’t want to speak to them because it’s always the same story. Even if I go and speak to them, they will not give me a clear answer. It’s difficult for me because I don’t want to be the only one talking about this situation. But everyone needs to understand that’s the difference between being qualified and not being qualified. It has a big impact on players. I’m really proud of my players, I think they gave everything and they don’t deserve that level of refereeing again.”
Lucy Bronze, reflecting on Chelsea’s exit, told BBC Sport: “There’s not much more we could do across both legs. We were the better team but not the most clinical. That was the difference. They had clinical finishes in the first game which gave us an uphill battle against a top team. We knew we could get the win tonight which is obviously what we did but too many missed chances and crossbars. We could be proud of what we did. There’s not much more we could do… We need to take that energy and focus into the end of the season because there’s still things to play for.”
On how far Chelsea are from a Champions League title, Bronze said: “Not far. The competition has tightened up and the first leg killed us a bit. We went toe to toe with Arsenal who are the current champions and we beat them tonight and should have had a better result in the first leg. It depends on each game and who turns up. That’s the Champions League, you have to show up and be counted and score the goals.”
Arsenal boss Renee Slegers praised her players’ mentality: “It was a very hard scenario going into this game with a two-goal lead. The three games before this game had been very tight with small margins. We were preparing for this again. So proud of the players, mostly from a mentality perspective – how they managed this game. Really proud of the mentality again.” On McCabe’s hair pull, Slegers said she had seen a still picture and that McCabe had gone to Alyssa to apologise; she suggested it looked unintentional but wanted to review it fully.
Captain Kim Little told BBC Sport: “We haven’t had the start to the season that we wanted but we have grown as the season has gone and been really dominant in competitions. Ultimately that’s not good enough. You want to be consistent and league champions. We need to make sure we are consistent and on it… It would be nice to do it two years in a row, we’ll give it all we can.”
What’s next in the WSL?
– Arsenal fixtures
– Chelsea fixtures
– Women’s Super League fixtures