MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City ended Chelsea's unbeaten run this season as Vivianne Miedema scored twice to give her team a 2-0 win in the Women's Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Four days after Chelsea beat City to win the English League Cup, injury-hit City became the first team to beat Chelsea under coach Sonia Bompastor in her team's 29th game of the season.
Miedema came off the bench at halftime and made the difference in the 60th minute, pouncing on the rebound after Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton tipped Laia Aleixandri's header onto the crossbar. Her second was a clinical finish in the 89th off Kerolin's pass after Chelsea had been pushing to level the score.
It was a triumphant display of the impact Miedema can still have at Champions League level despite repeated setbacks with knee injuries since tearing her ACL in 2022. Her most recent operation was just five months ago.
Chelsea had one goal by Mayra Ramirez ruled out for offside before Johanna Rytting Kaneryd nearly scored soon after with a shot that hit the bar. Maika Hamano reached the rebound first but couldn't emulate Miedema as her shot was saved.
“We didn’t play with a lot of desire. We need to run to make more effort as a team, but also as individuals," Bompastor said. "Sometimes it’s easy to talk about tactics, but football is about running and making sure you put all your effort in on the pitch, so maybe we were a little bit sloppy in that aspect tonight.”
It was the second of four consecutive games between Chelsea and City in the space of 12 days across three different competitions, and only City's second game since reappointing interim coach Nick Cushing. The two teams next play Sunday in the Women's Super League before their Champions League second leg March 27.
Barcelona rolls on
Earlier, Barcelona took a big step toward a third straight Women's Champions League title by beating Wolfsburg 4-1 in the first leg of their quarterfinal encounter.
In the first meeting of the two teams since Barcelona beat Wolfsburg 3-2 in the 2023 Champions League final, Barcelona showed how the gap between the two teams has only grown.
Barcelona dominated throughout and largely shut Wolfsburg's forwards out of the game as former Wolfsburg player Ewa Pajor caused her old team plenty of problems.
Barcelona took the lead when Pajor, who joined Barcelona from Wolfsburg last year, pressured defender Caitlin Dijkstra into conceding an own goal as she tried to stop Pajor connecting with Aitana Bonmati's cross in the 26th.
Two goals in the space of three minutes early in the second half took the game further away from Wolfsburg as Irene Paredes scored to finish off a short corner routine before Salma Paralluelo made it 3-0 soon after with a deflected shot.
Wolfsburg had some hope of a comeback when Janina Minge scored a header from a corner in the 79th, but Barcelona's 18-year-old substitute Sydney Schertenleib responded with a curled shot that went in off the crossbar.
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The Associated Press
