Chelsea came back from a goal down to secure their direct spot in the UEFA Women’s Champions League – and head coach Sonia Bompastor was delighted.
Wolfsburg went one up in the final group stage match in the 16th minute through Alexandra Popp – but Lucy Bronze and Sam Kerr got the goals the Blues needed to win.
It meant that Chelsea finished third in the group standings and do not have to go through the additional two-legged play-off in the New Year.
And with a packed fixture schedule as her side look to close the gap in the Women’s Super League on leaders Manchester City, Bompastor was very pleased.
“It’s so important to avoid the play-offs in a really busy schedule,” she said, according to the club’s official website, “but also because when you have to play two more games, first of all, you don’t know if you’re going to win them.
“So the good thing is we don’t have to play two more games, but also, we know we are already qualified directly to the quarter-final. That’s what we wanted to achieve coming here.
“If you look back at all the games we played in this campaign, I’m really proud of the results we got. I think we played some really good football in some of the matches. Today we were residents in our own half in the first 45 minutes. But we didn’t concede more than one, and we found a way to reverse the situation, then score one more goal than the opposition.”
Sonia Bompastor: Chelsea are resilient
Those pleasing results for Bompastor included 6-0 wins over St Polten and Roma plus a 4-0 win against Paris FC.
And reflecting on Wednesday’s match in particular, she added: “I’m really proud of my players. We knew this game would be really tough. We know the quality Wolfsburg have in their squad collectively as a team, but also individually.
“The statistic from before the game was that no English club has ever won here before, so we are the first one. It just shows how difficult it is to do. To get the result in this ground shows our resilience, especially as we were losing the game 1-0, and we were able to reverse the situation with our quality and our belief, which is crucial.”
