On Thursday night Sonia Bompastor faced her greatest test as Chelsea head coach. Trailing 2-0 after the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter final tie against Manchester City, Chelsea knew only a three goal margin of victory would put them through. It was a test that Bompastor and Chelsea passed with flying colours, to set up a third semi final in a row with European champions, Barcelona.
The Halfway Line was at Stamford Bridge to hear from Bompastor last night after Chelsea’s 3-0 victory.
‘We believed it was possible’
As is so often the case in football after a richly deserved victory focus shifts to the future and the possibilities that victory has opened up. Bompastor was asked if she was allowing herself to dream of a final in Lisbon after that result?
“I’m allowing myself to just enjoy” the French head coach said with a glint in her eye, “I think sometimes in football, you work really hard, you sometimes get good results, sometimes not.
I think tonight was a perfect night for us being able again to play at Stamford bridge with our fans, and being able to turn things around again. I’m really proud of my players, it was a difficult challenge but we believed it was possible.”
That next task in the Champions League will be a semi final against the reigning champions Barcelona who have knocked Chelsea out in the semi final two years in a row. Is Bompastor confident her side can beat the Catalan giants? She replied:
“We’ll do everything possible to make that happen. But as you know, Barcelona has a lot of experience, a lot of talent in the squad I was watching before our game, their game against Wolfsburg, it will be again a tough challenge. But in football everything is possible. So I will bring all the confidence we need to go into those two games.
But first of all, we want to enjoy [this win] because it was not easy. We had a really great performance today. So I want to enjoy. We have some time to reflect on the games in April against Barcelona.”
We went into the second half with ‘the same mindset’ reports Bompastor
By half time, Chelsea had got the goals they needed to qualify for the next round, however the challenge form there was holding onto the win. Bompastor was asked what her team talk at half time looked like, she smiled:
“I just told my players, you know, when you are able to turn things around in 45 minutes and able to score three goals, we created a lot of opportunities the players get excited. So again, it’s important to get the right balance. But my main message was just to adjust two or three things in tactics, but also to tell them we need to go into the second half with the same mindset.
We wanted to score goals and with high pressure, because I think sometimes when you stop playing [like this], this is when sometimes it’s more difficult for you to perform. So we wanted to play with the same intentions from the first half going into the second half, sometimes it’s more difficult because you start to get tired.”
Starting Kaptein was an ‘obvious’ call for Bompastor
When the team sheet was released there was some surprise among the assembled media that Wieke Kaptein had been given the nod to start in midfield. Ahead of more experienced players like Sjoeke Nüsken, Cat Macario or Maika Hamano however the Dutch midfielder proved her manager’s point with a lung busting box to box performance. Bompastor was asked about the decision to play Kaptein after the match, she retorted:
“I think it was obvious she had a really great performance [on Sunday]. I think she just brings to the team a lot of quality in possession of the ball. She’s a young player but she’s really confident on the ball.
But also she worked so hard out of position, and I think it was something important going against City to make sure our high press was right.”
Bompastor continued: “She created a lot, she works out for the team so she deserved to play, and she had two great performances, one on Sunday in the league game but again tonight.”
Chelsea face West Ham at Kingsmeadow on Sunday in the Barclays Women’s Super League in the final match of this block before the International break.
