Chelsea lifted the first silverware of the season with a narrow victory over Manchester City. Mayra Ramírez’s opener was cancelled out by a brilliant Aoba Fujino strike before an unfortunate late own goal from Yui Hasegawa proved the difference late on.
The Action
Chelsea vs Manchester City Take 1… Pride Park Stadium was the stage as the two Barclays WSL sides kicked off this unique series of head-to-heads in which they will face each other four times in the space of 12 days.
Chelsea were unbeaten in 27 games under Sonia Bompastor coming into this one and were looking to break the League Cup curse that has seen them fall short on the last three occasions.
Manchester City, meanwhile, had had a tumultuous week with the shock announcement that Gareth Taylor had been sacked five days before. It meant a return to the club for Nick Cushing who had spent seven years at the helm of the Manchester side, overseeing their first and only WSL win, before he left in 2020.
Both managers named strong line-ups with the first trophy of the season up for grabs. The Blues’ named an enviable front line that included the likes of Catarina Macário, Ramírez, Lauren James and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd as Sonia Bompastor looked to exploit their opponents on the transition. For City, there was good news as well with the return to fitness of Fujino and Bunny Shaw, who both went into the starting line-up. There was also a place for the impressive Gracie Prior at the heart of their defence, the youngster retaining her spot in the continued absence of Rebecca Knaak.
It was a cagey, competitive and entertaining first half. The ability of Chelsea’s counterattack was immediately on show when Ramírez left Laia Aleixandri in her wake to open the scoring in the eighth minute.
That threat remained ever present in a first half in which Manchester City dominated possession but struggled to really trouble Hannah Hampton in goal. The poor standard of the pitch did little to help with Chelsea adapting the best of the two. Fujino tested the Chelsea goalkeeper on two occasions while there were half opportunities for Miedema and Shaw. The defensive partnership of Millie Bright and Nathalie Björn continued to flourish, however, and stood up to any test that came their way. Ramírez, meanwhile, should have made it more comfortable for her side, somehow hitting the side-netting when one-on-one with Ayaka Yamashita.
The match continued to ebb and flow after the break until Fujino’s superb solo effort levelled the score with just under half an hour to play. It was a moment that swung the game in City’s favour, and they looked the most likely to find the winner are they moved up a gear in the ten minutes that followed.
Bompastor clearly sensed that the momentum had shifted away from her team and was decisive at the right time. On came Aggie Beever-Jones and Maika Hamano with their youthful attacking intensity and the impact was immediate. Bronze skipped down the right, comically falling over her own feet before managing to poke the ball through to the advancing Beever-Jones. The England forward in turn found Ramírez whose delivery into the box hit the unfortunate Hasegawa, her touch looping over the helpless Yamashita to hand Chelsea their first trophy of the season and keep their hopes of a quadruple alive.
Stand Out Moment
The 64th minute leveller from Manchester City’s Fujino will surely go down as one of the goals of the season. The Japan international created the opportunity for herself with a gliding run that sliced through Chelsea’s defensive cover. She then proceeded to unleash a rocket of a finish that gave Hannah Hampton no chance.
🗣 “That is magnificent!” 🤩
What a hit from Aoba Fujino to bring Man City level! ⚽🔥#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/e24I6Uco79
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 15, 2025
Stand Out Performance
Lucy Bronze once again produced a trademark performance to illustrate why she is still considered as one of the world’s best full-backs. Her work rate and energy drove Chelsea forward, even when under significant pressure, while her experience helped them secure the victory. It was her driving run that led ultimately to the winner, an injection of pace and desire to impact the course of the game.
Quote of the Day
“As you can see, the performance was maybe not a great one but we found a way to win the game. The performance was good enough for us to win. We created some chances and scored two goals, which is a lot in a final, especially when you play City. I know this team has more than what we showed today.”
Sonia Bompastor, Chelsea
Teams
CHELSEA
Hannah Hampton; Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright (c), Nathalie Björn, Sandy Baltimore; Erin Cuthbert, Sjoeke Nüsken; Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Catarina Macário, Lauren James; Mayra Ramírez
Subs: Becky Spencer; Aggie Beever-Jones; Lola Brown; Niamh Charles; Mia Fishel; Maika Hamano; Oriane Jean-François; Wieke Kaptein; Ashley Lawrence
Manager: Sonia Bompastor
MANCHESTER CITY
Ayaka Yamashita; Kerstin Casparij, Gracie Prior, Laia Aleixandri (c), Leila Ouahabi; Yui Hasegawa; Jill Roord, Vivianne Miedema; Aoba Fujino, Khadija Shaw, Mary Fowler
Subs: Khiara Keating; Laura Blindkilde Brown; Laura Coombs; Kerolin Nicoli; Naomi Layzell; Lily Murphy; Aemy Oyama; Jess Park; Laura Wienroither
Manager: Nick Cushing
