Chelsea’s Sonia Bompastor spoke to the media after having lifted her first trophy in England, following the Blues’ 2-1 win over Manchester City in Saturday’s Subway Women’s League Cup final.
The former France international expressed that “the most important thing was to bring the trophy to the club.”
“I’m really proud of my players. The performance was maybe not a great one, but we found a way to win the game. City are a really good team so it was a tough game. We were expecting that. We created opportunities, scoring two goals was enough to win the game today.”
“It was tough today, but I feel like our mentality is the right one. We work really hard, every time we step on the pitch, we put our heart on the pitch.”
Her side remains unbeaten so far this season in all competitions, and they can now focus on the three remaining competitions, with their eyes on more silverware. Their next three fixtures will all come against Manchester City – but Bompastor insists that the win “won’t be the main element going into the next game.”
“In terms of confidence, this one was really positive, even in terms of recovery. You always recover better when you win the game. It’s a big advantage, but it won’t be enough to win the game on Wednesday. Now it’s time to enjoy, celebrate a little bit today, but by tomorrow our focus, our plans, will be on Wednesday,” she told reporters in her post-match press conference.
“The most important thing is that we achieve our goals. Going into the games until the end of the season, it will be really difficult to stay unbeaten, but we take it game by game. We know we are in a decisive period of the season and we know every game will be important. this is our mindset. At the end, we just want to make sure we grab as many trophies as we can, knowing it will be really difficult.”
One of the key topics of discussion following Saturday’s match was the condition of the pitch at Derby County’s Pride Park, which Bompastor labelled “a shame”.
“It is a shame to have this pitch for a final, especially when you expect in England to have the best groundsmen and pitches in the world,” she explained. Players and fans alike voiced criticism of the turf condition, which was visibly muddy and cut up in areas.
Up next for Chelsea is the second of their four consecutive fixtures against Manchester City: their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final first leg, held at the Joie Stadium on Thursday.