Chelsea captain Millie Bright was asked about her reaction to Hayes’ departure in the pre-match press conference and she said: “It has been a bit of a whirlwind [since the announcement], Immediately, as a player and a person, I was devastated. I’ve been here nine years now under Em. I’ve learned so much - she is a mentor, a coach, a friend, a life coach, it’s more than just playing football under her. That has probably been the biggest thing in taking my game to the next level. If you can play under a manager that long and keep thriving it’s very rare. It has been a privilege to work with her for so long. We’re so grateful and proud of what we’ve achieved but we have a full season ahead and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes has spoken about what it would mean if she could win the WCL trophy with the club in her final season. “It would be a fairytale to win it, of course,” she said “But I didn’t grow up liking fairytales – my sister did. I would love nothing more than to be in a winning position with this team.”
Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
The team news is in! Real Madrid have made two changes to their starting team who beat Real Sociedad 7-1 last Friday with Ivana Andres and Claudia Zornoza in for Rocio and Hayley Raso.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have also made two changes from their 3-0 win over Everton in the WSL last weekend. Ashley Lawrence and Fran Kirby come in for Eve Perisset and Jelena Cankovic.
Good evening and welcome back to the Women’s Champions League! Tonight we have Real Madrid v Chelsea and they game has had a lot of build-up thanks to the Blues boss Emma Hayes being confirmed as the next USWNT head coach.
She will take up the role after the current season is over, meaning she has one last chance to win the WCL with Chelsea. It is the only trophy that has evaded Hayes’ grasp at Chelsea since she took charge in 2012. I will cover the story more as the blog continues as there have been a lot of press conferences and opinions being shared.
Back to this game though, Chelsea and Real Madrid were also placed in the same group last season where they drew once and Chelsea won once. They were close matches and so another close encounter can be expected – though star forward Caroline Weir will not play for Madrid as she is currently out with an ACL injury.
Chelsea are the only English club left in the competition too after Arsenal and Manchester United were knocked out in the qualifying rounds.
The match will kick-off at 8pm GMT and the team will be revealing their line-ups shortly so stay tuned for updates.
