Watching Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Celtic at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night, it was hard to believe the English champions only just got past their Scottish opponents seven days prior. In Glasgow, Celtic actually took the lead against Sonia Bompastor’s side and only lost 2-1, putting up a valiant effort despite being massive underdogs. The reverse fixture in the Champions League group stage was quite different though, as Chelsea eased to a victory that not only sent them through to the quarter-finals, but also knocked Celtic out of the competition.
There were just two minutes on the clock when the tone was set, as Lucy Bronze connected brilliantly with a Catarina Macario cross to break the deadlock with a volley that Celtic shot-stopper Kelsey Daugherty will know she should’ve kept out. Another well-worked corner produced the second goal of the day, too, as Guro Reiten this time provided the delivery and teenager Wieke Kaptein applied the headed finish. It was all capped off in stoppage time, when Bronze’s cross struck a hand in the box and Eve Perisset added some late gloss to the scoreline from the penalty spot.
Chelsea by no means bombarded the Celtic goal in this game, but they didn’t really need to. Dominating possession and restricting their opponents to very little, having already taken an early lead, the Blues did what was necessary to come out with all three points, secure their place in the knockout stages and maintain Bompastor’s 100% start to life at the club – a perfect record that runs through 12 games now.
GOAL rates Chelsea’s players from Stamford Bridge…