**Chelsea booked their place in the semi-finals of the [UWCL](https://www.uefa.com/womenschampionsleague/fixtures-results/) once again as they defeated Manchester City 3-0 in a relentless performance from Sonia Bompastor’s side.**
Chelsea ended off four consecutive games against Manchester City with another win as they secured a shot at revenge against Barcelona in the next round.
42 Minutes is all it took for the Blues to take the lead in the tie on a night where the visitors failed to take any of the chances that were presented to them.
### The Match:
Chelsea got off to the fast start that almost everyone expected them to with the Blues having five attempts on goal in the opening ten minutes of play.
The most menacing of these came from a corner that resulted in a headed attempt from Nathalie Björn rattling the post.
Nick Cushing’s side’s goal would have been to weather the inevitable storm that was heading their way in the opening stages of the match.
This goal would prove unachievable for the visitors when a shot from Lucy Bronze struck the post and came back out to the feet of Sandy Baltimore who hit a first-time shot towards the top right corner that easily beat Khiara Keating.
It was not to be a half that solely consisted of defending for Manchester City as following the opening goal of the match, City did test Hannah Hampton on a couple of occasions.
It was Chelsea who were continuing to look the more threatening team as they forced a goal line clearance from Vivianne Miedema following a corner.
Corners were a regular theme in the first half as the Blues continued to pose a threat from the set-pieces and on the seventh attempt, they got their reward.
Nathalie Björn, who came so close to finding the back of the net earlier in the match, placed her headed attempt in the top right corner, out of Keating’s reach to level the tie on aggregate.
It had been a relentless first half from Chelsea who had put City under all sorts of pressure since the whistle was first blown.
Only five minutes after the equaliser, Sonia Bompastor’s side had tipped the tie into their favour for the first time.
Lauren James capitalised on a loose back pass and drifted out wide to the right wing where she ran to the line and then squared the ball to Maya Ramirez who had the space and time to pull the trigger and find the bottom left corner.
Chelsea very almost had a buffer going into half-time when Ramirez took advantage of another Manchester City mix-up, cut inside and blasted her shot at Keating who prevented Chelsea’s lead from doubling.
Up against it, City would have perhaps been glad to hear the half-time whistle as they needed to regroup if they were to get back into this tie.
However, the visitors who had the same percentage of possession as well as a higher passing accuracy than Chelsea in the first half, did have chances presented to them in the first half. The issue was that, unlike their opponents, they failed to take them.
Nick Cushing did turn to his very thinned-out bench at half-time as Lily Murphy made way at the beginning of the second half for Laura Coombs who started in the [WSL clash](https://thedeck.news/football/chelsea-women-vs-manchester-city-women-wsl-match-report/) this past weekend.
Chelsea set the tone very early into the half, picking up where they left off and showing that despite now having the lead, they would continue to attack.
15 minutes into the second half, Chelsea tested Keating twice in quick succession as she was called into action by both Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Erin Cuthbert.
Jess Park was the next player to enter the pitch for Manchester City, replacing Dutch international Jill Roord.
Sonia Bompastor then turned to her talent-filled bench, bringing on Aggie Beever-Jones in place of goal scorer Maya Ramirez in the hopes of freshening up her side’s attack.
Moments after this substitution, Manchester City almost found the goal to level up the tie on aggregate once again.
The star of the first leg, Vivianne Miedema, lined up a low strike that flew just wide of the bottom left corner. This was the closest that the visitors came to finding a goal so far in this match.
Very soon after this, Joanna Rytting Kaneryd broke down the right wing and squared the ball to Aggie Beever-Jones, whose attempt to blocked before it could travel towards goal.
Chelsea had already hit the woodwork on multiple occasions in the game when Erin Cuthbert picked up the ball and unleashed a shot from the edge of the box that struck the crossbar, leaving the scoreline unaltered.
### Squads and Ratings:
**Chelsea:** H. Hampton **6** – L. Bronze **6.5**, N. Björn **7**, M. Bright **7**, S. Baltimore **7**, K. Walsh **6.5**, E. Cuthbert **7**, W. Kaptein **6.5** (O. Jean-Francois 90+2′), J. Rytting Kaneryd **7.5**, M. Ramirez **8** (A. Beever-Jones 71′ **6**), L. James **7**.
**Booked:** K. Walsh, S. Baltimore.
**Unused Subs:** R. Spencer, K. Cox, A. Lawrence, N. Charles, S. Nüsken, M. Hamano, C. Macario, L. Brown
**Manchester City:** K. Keating **6** – K. Casparij **5.5**, G. Prior **5**, L. Aleixandri **5.5**, L. Ouahabi **5**, J. Roord **5** (J. Park 66′ **5**), Y. Hasegawa **5** (N. Layzell 85′), V. Miedema **6.5**, Kerolin **6**, M. Fowler **5**, L. Murphy **5.5** (L. Coombs 45′ **6**)
**Booked:** L. Alexandri
**Unused Subs:** K. Startup, L. Wienroither
### What does this mean?:
For Manchester City, their sole focus for the remainder of the season will be getting themselves back in the Champions League positions which they are currently seven points adrift of.
Chelsea will progress to the Semi-finals of the Champions League where they will face Barcelona for the third consecutive with the Blues bound to be hungry for revenge.
### What comes next?:
Chelsea will now look ahead to their WSL clash against West Ham United on March 30th where they will look to maintain or potentially extend their lead at the top of the table in what has been a dominant season up to this point for Sonia Bompastor’s team.
Manchester City will largely look to put this four-game saga behind them and focus back on their WSL aspirations when they travel to Brighton also on March 30th.