Chelsea kept their hopes of a quadruple alive as they beat Manchester City 2-1 in the Subway Women’s League Cup Final at Pride Park.
Mayra Ramirez opened the scoring, when she pounced first to strike the rebound home at the near post within the first ten minutes of the game.
Aoba Fujino pulled one back for City just after the hour mark, dancing through a number of challenges before going solo on goal.
But with just over ten minutes to play, a ball into the box from Ramirez met Yui Hasegawa, with the City midfielder turning the ball into her own net that would ultimately cost the Cityzens.
As it happened
A late challenge from Millie Bright on Khadija Shaw within the first two minutes set the tone for Saturday’s battle at Pride Park. City started well, but it was Chelsea that capitalised first, opening the scoring within the first ten minutes when Mayra Ramirez pounced on the rebound to slam home the first goal of the afternoon at the near post.
It had been a clever ball through the defence from Lauren James that was met by Ramirez, who saw her initial effort be saved by Ayaka Yamashita – but the forward took full advantage of the rebound from close-range.
It was undoubtedly a hard blow for City, but Nick Cushing’s side stayed together and got close to an equaliser when Shaw’s effort was blocked by Millie Bright.
City were the better team leading up to the half-hour mark, but Ramirez – a lively character throughout the afternoon – set off towards goal and saw her close-range effort hit the side netting under pressure from Laia Aleixandri.
The start of the second half looked to paint the same picture, but Chelsea were first to get close to extending their lead as Yamashita was called upon to deny Johanna Rytting Kaneryd.
Just after the hour mark, City’s pressure paid off as finally found the back of the net.
The Cityzens had been failing to capitalising their chances, but Aoba Fujino raced towards goal, running through a number of challenges, and placed the ball past Hannah Hampton in front of the club’s travelling fans.
City had another chance soon after, through an effort from Shaw, who forced an excellent save out of Hampton. Vivianne Miedema was next to get close, forcing another save from Chelsea’s goalkeeper.
But ultimately, it was Chelsea who secured victory as Ramirez saw her cross/shot turned into the net by City’s Yui Hasegawa, handing Sonia Bompastor’s side the winner in the 77th minute.
The Subway Women’s League Cup heads back to London as Chelsea’s first piece of silverware this season – but with the Blues remaining unbeaten in all competitions under Bompastor so far, they’ll surely be eying up the remaining three trophies on offer.
Chelsea and City will meet each other a further three times this month: twice in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final, and once in the Barclays Women’s Super League. The first leg of their UWCL tie takes place at Joie Stadium on Thursday.
The lineups
CHE: Hampton; Bronze, Bright, Bjorn, Baltimore; Nüsken, Cuthbert, Kaneryd; Macario, James, Ramirez
MCI: Yamashita; Casparij, Prior, Aleixandri, Ouahabi; Hasegawa, Miedema, Roord; Fujino, Fowler, Shaw