The WSL leaders came out on top in their four-game series with Nick Cushing’s side and still have three trophies in their sights On Sunday, Manchester City and Chelsea will both do something they haven’t done in any of their last four games. They’ll walk out for a fixture that doesn’t involve playing against one another. Thursday’s Women’s Champions League second leg was the final match in a four-game series between the two, which began with the League Cup final on March 15 and spanned across three competitions, before coming to its conclusion via the Blues’ qualification for a European semi-final in midweek.It’s been a testing couple of weeks for both teams, for a lot of different reasons. Each have been hit by notable injuries, the kind of which have hurt City’s thinner squad more. Sonia Bompastor, the Chelsea boss, went out of her way to note that on Thursday. “Maybe it was something that went more in our side, because they didn’t have all their squad,” she graciously conceded, in the same press conference which saw her describe the depth of her squad as “really important”.In the end, it was Chelsea who came out on top across this tetralogy, despite losing their unbeaten record in the second of their four meetings with City. In Manchester, a 2-0 win for the hosts was sandwiched between victories for the Blues in the League Cup final and the Women’s Super League, the latter of which Bompastor’s team are in pole position to win. However, that was just the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, and Chelsea ruthlessly turned things around at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, going 3-0 up before half time.Try as they might, City couldn’t get going in west London. Hannah Hampton, the Chelsea goalkeeper, was forced into several smart saves, but never from sustained pressure. Instead, the Blues dominated and deservedly progressed to the semi-finals, where they will face a Barcelona side that has eliminated them at this stage in each of the past two years.Could this season be different? There are some signs to suggest as much, though Barca’s own 10-2 aggregate quarter-final win over two-time European champions Wolfsburg was a statement. “It will be a tough challenge,” Bompastor said. “But, in football, everything is possible.”And what now for City? They lost that League Cup final, are out of the Champions League and sit some seven points adrift of the European places in the WSL, with only five games to go. There is still the FA Cup, which they are in the semi-finals of, but it has been a rough few weeks.GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from Stamford Bridge…
