Chelsea have mountain to climb as Barca Achilles heel shows again


But is this a step too far?

Chelsea have been branded ‘mentality monsters’ having come from behind several times on their way to winning domestic silverware.

They were six points behind WSL leaders Manchester City – with a worse goal difference – with three games to go last season, but still secured a fourth successive title.

A stoppage-time winner from Aggie Beever-Jones last week helped them beat Liverpool to reach the Women’s FA Cup final.

And they turned around a 2-0 first-leg deficit in this season’s Champions League quarter-finals, knocking out City to set up the latest meeting with Barcelona.

It will take something special to turnaround the 4-1 scoreline with Barca – but can they do it?

“It’s a tough task, a task that is probably too big for Chelsea to overturn,” said Williams.

“If you look back to the Manchester City game in the quarter-finals, there was a little bit of hope for Chelsea but the way it unfolded [against Barcelona], I don’t think it gives Chelsea any hope of turning the tie around.

“Chelsea will have to find a way to mentally bounce back. This is something they haven’t suffered under Sonia Bompastor.

“Is it out of reach? I think so. But who knows what this Chelsea side can do?”

One player who certainly believes is Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze.

The England international won three consecutive Champions League titles with Lyon before helping Barcelona to back-to-back successes in the competition.

She was emotional at full-time, taking centre stage in the team huddle and delivering a passionate message to her team-mates.

“We need to keep the ball better. We can attack them with more quality and more composure,” Bronze told DAZN afterwards.

“You saw how easy it was for us to score the goal we did. It was probably our one moment of true attack and a goal came from it.

“If we have more of those opportunities then Barca are a team you can hurt on the transition – and we are good in transition.

“We’ve already shown in the Champions League that we can win 3-0 at Stamford Bridge, so we have that within us.”



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *