City made the brave or foolish decision depending on your point of view to sack their manager Gareth Taylor before their League Cup final defeat and replace him with former boss Nick Cushing (2013-2020) on an interim basis.
Cushing led City to two Champions League semi-finals in his previous spell as manager but it did seem an odd decision with City still in the hunt for a Champions League finish in the Women’s Super League even if recent season’s they had underperformed under Taylor whose management style it had been reported had alienated some of the players.
City had forwards Khadija Shaw and Aoba Fujino missing which could account for their lack of a cutting edge in the first half yet Chelsea could also point to Australian star Sam Kerr who failed to make her long-awaited return since rupturing her ACL in January 2024.
But City had experienced campaigner Vivianne Miedema on the bench and her second half introduction proved the difference on 60 minutes as she reacted quickest to a shot that hit the cross bar to score before wrapping up the victory with two minutes remaining.
Not that Chelsea were so lucky on 80 minutes when Johanna Rytting Kaneryd hit the woodwork and the ball bounced to safety. They only began to pressurise City after going the goal behind but it proved too little as their first half performance of restricting the hosts to long range efforts failed to cope once the home team increased the pressure after the break and certainly on shots on target City deserved the win
The teams now have a meeting in the Women's Super League on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium followed by the second leg of this Champions League tie the following Thursday.
It has been almost 10 years since a team other than Lyon or Barcelona lifted the Champions League trophy but frankly on tonight’s display it’s difficult to see either of these two WSL teamsupsetting that duopoly.