Man City 2-0 Chelsea: Lucy Bronze Criticizes Sonia Bompastor’s Side for Lack of ‘Effort’ but Remains Confident They Can Turn the Tie Around.
Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze criticized her team’s performance in their 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the first leg of the Women’s Champions League quarter-final but remains hopeful they can turn the tie around. The second leg is set for March 27 at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor also expressed confidence in their ability to recover from the setback.
Bronze stated that Chelsea were “miles off it” during the defeat, acknowledging a lack of effort and poor execution. Substitute Vivianne Miedema came off the bench to score twice, putting City in a strong position. The loss handed Bompastor her first defeat since taking over as Chelsea manager, just days after securing the League Cup.
Despite the two-goal deficit, Bronze is optimistic, saying: “Although we are two goals down, we are completely confident that we can turn this around. It will be the biggest game of the season so far. It’s all still to play for. We know we can score goals. We’ve got goals all over the pitch.”
Bompastor, despite the disappointment of the defeat, took full responsibility for the result but echoed Bronze’s confidence. She emphasized the importance of a positive mindset moving forward, especially with key fixtures against City in both the Women’s Super League on Sunday and the second leg of the Champions League.
Bompastor reflected on the game, saying, “A lot of frustration. For me, it is about analysing now. I take all the responsibility for the performance and result. I am hard on myself, but people expect the manager to turn things around. It is okay to be disappointed, but from tomorrow, we need to analyse the performance and focus on the future.”
Despite the loss, Bompastor remains confident, stating, “I will stay confident going into the second leg. We have a lot of quality in the squad, and the freshness will be important. We have depth in the squad.”
Meanwhile, City, inspired by Miedema’s brace, are riding high after bouncing back from their own disappointment in the League Cup final, where they fell 2-1 to Chelsea. Miedema shared her thoughts on the win, saying, “Today was special, and hopefully, we can put the same performance in next week. We’ve missed a lot of players, and I am really happy we got this result because it gives us confidence for Sunday and the game next week as well.”
