Chelsea Women secured a knockout stages spot as they produced one of the most comfortable football scores of the midweek action in the Women’s Champions League. Ingle scored the game’s first goal in the 12th minute by slamming a loose ball in from the edge of the box. This was Ingle’s second goal of the season, both of which came in the Champions League. Eight minutes later, Kirby scored, and it turned out to be a far more contentious goal. The attacker pounced on a hastily taken free-kick and fired past Kaylin Williams-Mosier, prompting the incensed home defense to argue with the referee, Karoline Wacker. The hosts were unable to respond in any way, and late goals from Katerina Svitkova and Maren Mjelde instead added insult to injury.
After a confident start, it took the visitors 12 minutes to score the opening goal, with Ingle, their captain for the evening, on target. Guro Reiten’s deflected cut-back and a flowing move down the left led to the ball rolling out to the penalty spot, where Ingle was waiting to strike the first time into the bottom corner. Chelsea had scored in their last 29 games, but they were never going to be satisfied with just one. They were able to get a second thanks to a free-kick well outside the box, which Jelena Cankovic took advantage of.
Sam Kerr’s struggle to put her name on the scoresheet in the second half at times appeared to be a personal one, despite the Australian coming close on a few occasions. She had a far-post header that she should have improved on, had a goal-bound shot expertly stopped by Lucie Gjini, and then had a close-range finish disallowed for offside. Despite the failure of her efforts, the game ended with two more goals. Before a handball in stoppage time allowed them to conclude with a flourish, the outstanding Cankovic sent a superb cross for substitute Svitkova, who flicked home the header. Mjelde took the opportunity to score the penalty kick, advancing the London club to the next round with ease.
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