Key events
There is one star on the Real Madrid team that many of you may have been introduced to during the World Cup – Colombia’s Linda Caicedo. Her amazing technical ability helped her team beat Germany and make herself a household name. Chelsea will have to watch out for her threat tonight if they are to get a result.
There are three other games happening today in the competition. Bayern v Roma and Paris FC v Hacken have already finished with Bayern and Roma settling for a 2-2 draw and Hacken beating Paris 2-1. Ajax will take on PSG with the same kick-off time as Real Madrid Chelsea. I’ll update you with that score as we go.
The Women’s Champions League group stage started yesterday with results including Barcelona beating Benfica 5-0 and Lyon recording a 9-0 win over Slavia Praha. Read all about yesterday’s action:
I’d love to hear your opinions on Hayes’ departure and new job with the USWNT, email me your thoughts! Also I always love to hear about snacks while watching the game so leave those too!
For all the details on Hayes’ move to the USWNT have a read of the full story:
Chelsea captain Millie Bright was asked about her reaction to Hayes’ departure in the pre-match press conference and she said: “It has been a bit of a whirlwind [since the announcement], Immediately, as a player and a person, I was devastated. I’ve been here nine years now under Em. I’ve learned so much – she is a mentor, a coach, a friend, a life coach, it’s more than just playing football under her. That has probably been the biggest thing in taking my game to the next level. If you can play under a manager that long and keep thriving it’s very rare. It has been a privilege to work with her for so long. We’re so grateful and proud of what we’ve achieved but we have a full season ahead and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes has spoken about what it would mean if she could win the WCL trophy with the club in her final season. “It would be a fairytale to win it, of course,” she said “But I didn’t grow up liking fairytales – my sister did. I would love nothing more than to be in a winning position with this team.”
The team news is in! Real Madrid have made two changes to their starting team who beat Real Sociedad 7-1 last Friday with Ivana Andres and Claudia Zornoza in for Rocio and Hayley Raso.
Real Madrid: Misa, Oihane, Ivana, Kathellen, Olga, Toletti, Teresa, Athenea, Zornoza, Caicedo, Bruun
Chelsea, meanwhile, have also made two changes from their 3-0 win over Everton in the WSL last weekend. Ashley Lawrence and Fran Kirby come in for Eve Perisset and Jelena Cankovic.
Chelsea: Berger, Bright, Nusken, Carter, Lawrence, Kirby, Fleming, Kaneryd, Kerr, Charles, Cuthbert
Preamble
Good evening and welcome back to the Women’s Champions League! Tonight we have Real Madrid v Chelsea and they game has had a lot of build-up thanks to the Blues boss Emma Hayes being confirmed as the next USWNT head coach.
She will take up the role after the current season is over, meaning she has one last chance to win the WCL with Chelsea. It is the only trophy that has evaded Hayes’ grasp at Chelsea since she took charge in 2012. I will cover the story more as the blog continues as there have been a lot of press conferences and opinions being shared.
Back to this game though, Chelsea and Real Madrid were also placed in the same group last season where they drew once and Chelsea won once. They were close matches and so another close encounter can be expected – though star forward Caroline Weir will not play for Madrid as she is currently out with an ACL injury.
Chelsea are the only English club left in the competition too after Arsenal and Manchester United were knocked out in the qualifying rounds.
The match will kick-off at 8pm GMT and the team will be revealing their line-ups shortly so stay tuned for updates.
