Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says her side are still very much in their UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final tie despite trailing 2-1 after the first leg against Bayern Munich yesterday.
The German side took the lead through Sydney Lohmann after 12 minutes following a mistake from Chelsea keeper Ann-Katrin Berger. Melanie Leupolz found Chelsea’s equaliser 10 minutes later with a goal against her former side, however, Bayern Munich netted their winner early in the second half through Hanna Glas’ brilliant curling finish.
Speaking in the post-match press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present, Hayes said “Going into half-time at 1-1, I was fairly happy that we had got an away goal. At full-time, we still have that away goal and we’re still very much in the tie.
“Everybody has to respect when you play the game we had to play against City on Wednesday night, that took a lot emotionally out of the whole group then to come and play our second biggest game of the season, I think that’s extremely difficult.”
Chelsea will have to overturn the tie in the second leg should they progress to this season’s final and Hayes knows that her side will need to cut out the errors that led to both Bayern Munich goals in the first leg.
She added “You don’t win the tie in the first leg, we saw Bayern celebrating the win but this is not a single game.
“It was two really poor goals that we conceded, in terms of what we prepared for. We know it wasn’t our best performance but we are not out of it.
“We have to focus on the positives. It’s too easy in a game like this to reflect on things that didn’t go so well and I won’t do that until I’ve watched it back.”
Chelsea continue to be without the experienced defensive duo of Maren Mjelde and Magda Eriksson but Hayes is hoping that the latter will be fit for next weekend’s second leg at Kingsmeadow.
“We’ve lost two real senior leaders in our side but it is up to the rest of the group to make sure it doesn’t become something we talk about,” Hayes said.
“We’re hoping Magda will be fit for next week but regardless of who is available next week, there is enough experience and quality in this group to deliver the performance that will get us into this final.
“Yes, Bayern are excited by their result today (Sunday) but trust me I will make sure the team will put in the performance of their lives next week.
“We’ve got to bring them to Kingsmeadow and we’ve got to pose a much different problem to them.”
Chelsea’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final second leg tie against Bayern Munich kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon and will be broadcast live on BT Sport 1.
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