Manchester City dealt Sonia Bompastor her first defeat as Chelsea boss thanks to Vivianne Miedema's double off the bench to secure a 2-0 advantage in the first leg of the Women's Champions League quarter-final.
Chelsea, unbeaten in 31 games heading into this fixture, now face a mountain to climb in the second leg on March 27 as they look to secure an elusive first Champions League trophy.
The second of four meetings in the space of 12 days between these two sides, after Chelsea secured the League Cup on Saturday, looked as if it might end in stalemate until Miedema climbed off the bench after the restart to lash home the opener on the hour mark.
#### Man City and Chelsea meet four times in 12 days
* March 15 - Women's League Cup final (Chelsea 2-1 Man City)
* March 18 - Women's Champions League (Man City 2-0 Chelsea)
* March 23 - Women's Super League
* March 27 - Women's Champions League (second leg)
Blues goalkeeper Hannah Hampton did well to tip Laia Aleixandri's header onto the bar in the build-up but was left helpless when it fell to the substitute from point-blank range.
Image: Vivianne Miedema celebrates her opener against Chelsea
Pressure began to mount on the hosts as time ticked down, with Mayra Ramirez seeing a goal disallowed for offside and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd crashing an effort off the woodwork, but any City fears of walking away without a win were addressed when Miedema poked home her second to double the advantage late on.
#### Barcelona waiting in the wings...
The winner of the tie between Man City and Chelsea will go on to face either Barcelona, who secured a 4-1 win in the earlier kick-off, or Wolfsburg.
Handing Chelsea their first defeat of the campaign and firing themselves into a commanding position in the tie was made all the more impressive when considering City were without star forward Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw and Japan international Aoba Fujino due to injury.
They will now be tasked with replicating these same successes at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday when the two sides meet again in the Women's Super League, before travelling to Stamford Bridge four days later to defend their advantage in Europe.