MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MARCH 19: Sandy Baltimore of Chelsea battles for possession with Kerolin Nicoli of Manchester City during the UEFA Women’s Champions League Quarter Finals First Leg match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at the Manchester City Academy Stadium on March 19, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Kerolin was the hero as Manchester City underlined their Women’s Super League title credentials on Sunday.
They thrashed defending champions Chelsea 5-1 at the Etihad, thanks to a hat-trick from the Brazil international.
Bunny Shaw was also on the scoresheet, with Vivianne Miedema scoring a creative header from a corner.
And when Kerolin headed off to a well-deserved ovation midway through the second half, her match statistics showed that of her six shots taken, four of them had been on target, with three of them ending in goals.
“An absolutely stunning performance” was how BBC co-commentator Rachel Brown-Finnis described it as she named the 26-year-old the player of the match.
She continues a great streak of form, having scored against London City Lionesses and Everton in January, and Leicester City in December.
Mary Fowler returns for Manchester City
Manchester City had another reason to be cheerful – the return of Australia international Mary Fowler after almost a year on the sidelines with an ACL injury.
She replaced Shaw 15 minutes from time.
There was one down side to the afternoon – Aoba Fujino suffered what looked to be a nasty blow to the head shortly before the end of the match. She was replaced by Laura Coombs for what remained of additional time.
The WSL title race: how it stands
Manchester City are now 11 points clear at the top of the WSL.
Manchester United beat bottom side Liverpool 3-1 earlier on Sunday to move into second place in the table.
Chelsea could have reclaimed second spot had they got a result in Manchester – but instead they suffered their heaviest defeat in the WSL since 2018.
Arsenal – now down to fourth, and out of the UEFA Women’s Champions League spots – were not in WSL action this weekend because of their FIFA Women’s Champions Cup commitments.
