Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze claimed her team was “mile away” during the 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the first quarterfinals of the Champions League women, but insisted the situation could be corrected.
Substitute Vivianne Miedema climbed to the bench to score twice and Fire City in a commanding position in the tie, giving Sonia Bommaster her first loss as Chelsea chief four days after the League Cup is set up.
Blues face an uphill battle in the second match to secure an elusive champions league title, though Bronze is convinced they can do so when both sides meet again at Stamford Bridge on March 27.
“I don’t think we were good enough,” Bronze said Tnt sports. “I don’t think we had enough effort in our press. We were clumsy in our passage.
“The city was better organized. We were miles away from our game. Sonia said at half the time. This was a little improved in the second half, but this is definitely when they went inside and took their goals.
“Although we are two goals down, we are completely sure we can return that.
“It will be the biggest match of the season so far. It’s all still to play. We know we can score goals. We have goals all over the field.”
Despite being the first loss since taking charge of the club, the bommaster has taken full responsibility for the result, but was also quick to echo the bronze confidence in the future meetings with City at Sunday’s Super League and in Europe four days later.
When asked about her emotions after the game, the bommiker said, “Too much disappointment. For me, it is about analyzing now. I take all responsibility for performance and result. I am difficult for myself, but people expect the manager to return things.
“I think today is a difficult night and sometimes it happens in football. It’s good for everyone to be disappointed, but since tomorrow, we have to analyze the performance.
Chelsea Sonia Bommaster chief at the limits during 2-0 loss to Man City
“It is hard tonight but my job is to make sure that tomorrow, we have a positive thinking. What you can control is in the future. We have lost only one game in season, it was important, but it happens.
“I will stay safe going to the second game. We have many qualities in the squad and the freshness will be important. We have depth in the squad.”
City has already set the project how teams can react to disappointment after the winner of the match Miedema admitted how “disappointed” Nick Cushing’s team was after sitting in the final against Chelsea in Pride Park last weekend.
Miedema celebrates its opening
City asked questions about their opponents throughout, with 17 efforts for the goal in the game, but suffered a 2-1 loss after Yui Hasegawa’s goal sealed victory for League leaders.
“This should be our standard,” Miedema said. “We were really disappointed after Saturday (the final of the League Cup).
“Today was special, and hopefully we can put the same performance next week.
“We’ve lost a lot of players and I’m really happy to get this result because it gives us confidence and hopefully we can get it Sunday and the game next week too.”
