Chavas hands Chelsea progress into Women’s Champions League knockouts

It wasn’t a pretty victory, but that matters little. A Guro Reiten penalty and fumbled own goal from Mylène Chavas, the visiting goalkeeper, earned Chelsea a 2-1 win over Real Madrid and confirmed progress to the quarter-finals at the top of Group D.

Emma Hayes’s side were dominant but they struggled to make it count, forced to wait until the clock had ticked past the hour mark before taking the lead. Athenea del Castillo’s equaliser heightened tensions relieved just six minutes earlier, but Erin Cuthbert shot’s was almost thrown into the net by Chavas a minute later.

Hayes made two changes to the team which earned an emphatic 3-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday, with Jess Carter replacing the ineligible Nathalie Björn, who joined this month from Everton, and Fran Kirby taking over from hat-trick hero Lauren James.

Alberto Toril shuffled his Real Madrid starting XI with seven changes to the side that suffered a 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Supercopa semi-finals, before the Catalan club beat Levante 7-0 in the final.

Hayes warned that there was “nothing more dangerous than playing a team that have nothing to play for” ahead of the visit of Real, with the Spanish side unable to progress and on a single point before the game.

She was right to urge caution, despite Chelsea’s dominant position in the group and the draw between Häcken and Paris FC meaning a win would secure top spot in Group D. Real weathered the early storm well.

Mylène Chavas, the French goalkeeper who joined from Bordeaux last summer, did well to save with her left foot after Kirby had sent a delicate pass through for the onrushing Cuthbert, who took a shot from a tight angle. The shot-stopper was on hand again in the 12th minute, pushing away Reiten’s effort before clasping Mia Fishel’s backheel as it came straight at her.

Real regrouped and grew in confidence as the clock ticked towards half-time. The visiting team could have had a penalty, too, when Kadeisha Buchanan and Carter both challenged the Colombian teenager Linda Caicedo, though the latter’s follow-through was heavy.

Without VAR until the knockout stage of the competition, there was no chance for a second look. There were concerns for Caicedo, though, with the young forward looking to be in a degree of pain and Toril expressing his concern in the Real technical area. He looked as surprised as everyone when, after hobbling around the edge of the pitch flanked by medical staff, Caicedo re-entered play.

James, Chelsea’s top scorer at Stamford Bridge this season, would join proceedings at half-time, making the desire for a win before the final group game against Paris FC clear. Caicedo would exit at half-time for Del Castillo; with the Spanish side out there was no need to take any risks with the forward.

Back on the front foot after the break, with Kirby sitting ahead of James, Chelsea would go close in the 55th minute, a looping header from Kirby with her back to goal almost catching out Chavas but bouncing wide.

Chelsea’s luck changed just past the hour mark, though, when a late tackle on Niamh Charles by Hayley Raso resulted in a deserved penalty. Reiten stepped up and coolly fired into the bottom corner. The goal brought Stamford Bridge to life, the relief at the breakthrough palpable, but it was short-lived. Just six minutes separated the penalty and the response, Raso latching on to a ball over the top and powering it goalward. Hannah Hampton, making her Champions League debut, made a strong save, but Del Castillo was there to poke in the rebound.

One minute later and Chelsea were ahead once more. Cuthbert tested Chavas, who fumbled the ball into her own net.

It was a calamitous way to concede, and Real will return to Spain after seven days to forget. For Chelsea, this was patient efficiency typical of a Hayes team. This time it was demonstrated by the newer generation of Chelsea players, the generation that she is preparing for her successor. There is something exciting in Hayes’s selections and rotations this season as she readies herself to leave for the US women’s national team job, something exciting and something to watch.