Chelsea squeezed past Manchester City 2-1 to win the Women’s League Cup on Saturday and give Sonia Bompastor her first trophy as coach. An unfortunate own goal from Yui Hasegawa decided the contest at Pride Park as the Blues ended a run of three consecutive final defeats in the competition.
Mayra Ramirez had opened the scoring in the eighth minute against the run of play. Ayaka Yamashita saved Ramirez’s first attempt but the Colombian pounced on the rebound to give Chelsea a 1-0 lead as Lauren James picked her teammate out with a pinpoint pass behind City’s defense.
City came back and gave the equalizer in the 64th minute from Aoba Fujino. But disaster came in the 76th minute, when Hasegawa unintentionally volleyed Ramirez’s low cross into her own net.
“We are buzzing,” Chelsea captain Millie Bright added. “Things like that that are in the back of your mind for a long time. We are very happy; it is the start we wanted.”
The two meet again next week in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the Women’s Super League (WSL). Chelsea, the only team unbeaten since Bompastor took over, top the WSL table on 44 points, while City sit fourth.
