When the world discovered that Chelsea and Manchester City would play four times in 12 days, the final match of the stretch in the UEFA Women’s Champions League at Stamford Bridge always felt like it would define the run. And so it has proven, Chelsea, who won both matches in the league and the league cup were defeated by Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League tie 2-0.
The result means that Chelsea have a mountain to climb at Stamford Bridge, but climbing mountains is a hobby for some, and I would imagine it is one of Millie Bright’s. The Chelsea captain has led club and country to historic success and she will lead Chelsea out at the Bridge again on Thursday night knowing more history could be just 90 minutes away.
The Halfway Line had the opportunity to hear from the Chelsea captain ahead of that blockbuster clash.
Chelsea need to ‘believe in each other’ adamant Bright insists
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In the first leg at the Joie Stadium Manchester City were a team transformed in the second half, they introduced Vivianne Miedema from the bench and the Dutch striker scored twice. Many would wilt under the pressure of defending against a player on red hot form and with moments remaining Miedema bore down on goal, with a hat-trick on her mind. But Bright had other ideas, stealing in with a classic sliding challenge straight out of the Millie Bright play-book
The Halfway Line put this to Bright who modestly replied:
“I mean in that certain moment I do what a defender has to do, which is intercept. She’s a quality player. You don’t give her that time and space in the box. I know any one of our players would have done the exact same.”
As far as Bright’s leadership style is concerned, how does she view herself? She stoically responded:
“For me, it is always leading by example. The girls can always rely on me, and that’s something that I pride myself on a daily basis, not just in the games, but yeah, it’s just about giving energy and belief and confidence to your teammates.
Knowing that we can all look at each other in the eyes and rely on each other from start to finish, and that we’ve always got each other’s back that’s always my message to the girls. Be brave, be confident and give it absolutely everything and believe in each other.”
‘It’s not impossible to turn around’
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The last time a team overturned a two goal deficit in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the year was 2004. Over 20 years on Millie Bright’s Chelsea are looking to repeat the trick and make history. Even though Chelsea have never come back from 2-0 down after a first leg in Europe and Manchester City have never lost from 2-0 up from a first leg, Bright was clear headed about the state of play, the Lionesses star explained:
“It’s a situation where you have to remain calm. I think if we look across our last performances, there’s plenty of positives to take out there especially the last game, winning the game.
I think second after performance was our intensity. That’s when we’re at our best, and we could have scored more goals, we’re happy to take the positives from out of that. Yes, we’re not in the position we would have liked to have been in, but like Sonia said, we’re in it.”
Bright continued “So it’s about reacting, understanding where we’re at, and we know exactly what to expect from ourselves tomorrow. We know what we need to do. We’re very confident with ourselves. And yeah, it’s not impossible to turn around.”
‘I’ll stick to my defending’ jokes Bright
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Most remember well the Lionesses victory at Wembley in 2022, when they ended all those years of hurt. Less remember that in the quarter final of that tournament against Spain, England were six minutes away from exiting the competition, that was of course, until Millie Bright went up front and caused all manner of chaos in the Spanish box.
And if the need should arise, has Bright been practising her offensive efforts?
“No” Bright said with a chuckle, “I like to stick to my defending, keeping clean sheets is more up my street than putting the ball in the back of the net. I’ll leave that to the strikers. We’re just we’re extremely prepared and I can’t wait to be at the Bridge” she concluded with a steely resolve.
And then there is the elephant in the room: penalties. Any victory by a two goal margin for Chelsea after 120 minutes means spot kicks will decide who gets a place in the semi final, would Bright take one?
“Yeah, of course. I don’t think we have any players that back down from that, everyone’s prepared to step up and do their duty.”
Bright feels a ‘burning desire’ to win the Champions League
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For all Chelsea’s immaculate success the Champions League still alludes them, they have come close, defeat in the final against Barcelona in 2021 was a bitter pill to swallow. Bright was asked just how important winning the Champions League is to her and her team, she responded:
“That is the the aim. It’s always the aim, to win everything. It’s part of who we are. It’s part of our ambition. It’s part of the goal like I said, as the club. So when you become a Chelsea player, that’s your ambition. If you ask any individual within our squad, they’d give you the same answer: that it’s like burning desire to win this competition. It’s the Champions League.
Everyone knows how special it is. And, you know, very few win it. So it’s an incredible honour to be able to win it as a player, and Sonia has done it as both.”
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Bright’s final thoughts ahead of a potentially season defining match were clear and ominously so for the Manchester City faithful, she exclaimed:
“There’s a minimum of 90 minutes to play. That’s plenty of time for us to do exactly what we know we need to do and what we’re capable of doing. It’s just calm heads and executing our game plan.”