Sam Kerr netted her first UEFA Women’s Champions League goal as Chelsea defeated Benfica 3-0 in the second leg of their round of 32 tie at Kingsmeadow this evening.
The Blues were leading 5-0 from the first leg, allowing manager Emma Hayes to rotate her squad for this evening’s return fixture. Despite several changes to her starting XI, Chelsea proved to have too much quality for their Portuguese opponents whose debut European campaign has come to an end this evening.
Chelsea started the match with plenty of early zip and they would have taken the lead inside the opening 15 minutes if not for some inaccurate finishing and the best efforts of visiting goalkeeper Dani Neuhaus.
The Blues finally broke the deadlock in the 28th minute when Guro Reiten slipped in Beth England who coolly looped the ball over the helpless Neuhaus.
Niamh Charles then saw a vicious strike fly past the post late in the half as Chelsea went into the break with a one-goal lead.
Chelsea went close to adding a second goal early in the second half when Kerr forced a save from Neuhaus. The Australian international was soon to net her first UEFA Women’s Champions League goal when she converted a Reiten pass just after the hour mark.
With The Blues 8-0 up on aggregate, the flow of the second half began to become slightly disjointed as manager Hayes opted to make changes to her side. Pernille Harder came close to adding a third goal but she couldn’t direct her effort on target before England doubled her personal tally in second half injury time with a scruffy goal from point blank range.
Chelsea ended the night 3-0 winners while they advance to the round of 16 courtesy of an overall 8-0 aggregate success.
The draw for the UEFA Women’s Champions League round of 16 will provisionally be conducted by UEFA on 16 February 2021.
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