Chelsea Women 2-1 Man City Women: Sonia Bompastor earns first trophy as Blues boss with League Cup win

Yui Hasegawa turned the ball into her own net to help Sonia Bompastor claim her first trophy in charge of Chelsea with a 2-1 Women’s League Cup final win over Manchester City at Pride Park.

With a quadruple firmly on the agenda for new boss Bompastor, it was her undefeated Chelsea who drew first blood when Mayra Ramirez bundled in the ball following a sweeping counter-attack (8).

However, despite Ramirez spurning a chance to net a second after rounding Ayaka Yamashita, City, led by interim boss Nick Cushing, dominated the early exchanges.

And it appeared as though Chelsea’s League Cup final hoodoo would reign supreme as City found a deserved equaliser through Aoba Fujino’s rifled effort after the break (64) – Chelsea had previously lost three successive League Cup finals since they last won it in 2021.

But for all City’s efforts under Cushing, just five days after he took over from the dismissed Gareth Taylor, a late Chelsea transition saw Ramirez pull back a cross from the byline and, in an attempt to clear, Hasegawa sliced the ball past her own goalkeeper.

A third League Cup victory ensures a 15th major honour for Chelsea and sees Bompastor’s side begin their run of four games against City in 12 days with a win.

Bright: We always find a way to win

Chelsea captain Millie Bright to the BBC:

“We are just buzzing and things like that sit in your mind and it has certainly been doing my head in for a long time.

“We are really happy and it is the start we wanted for these next four fixtures and, more importantly, today was all about winning and that is what we did.

“It was always going to be a tight game. They had chances, we had chances. We defended really well front to back and should have put a couple more chances away. The mentality to never give in is something that Chelsea have had in their DNA for a long time. We always find a way to win whether it’s a good day or a bad day.

“Now it’s rest, recover and go again. It’s a strange period for both teams. We have never been in this position. We have to be aware of potential changes for the next game.

“Absolutely not [celebrate the win]. Straight home, get back home to bed and back for recovery.”

Bompastor: I want my players in bed by 9.30pm!

Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor to the BBC:

“We are really happy for sure. You know when you’re in a final, it’s always the main thing is to win. The game was not easy but really happy with the win. First trophy in the season, it’s always important.

“I just told my players it’s really important that today, we are about to turn the words into actions. We worked so hard every day from the beginning of the season and today was huge positivity from the players to perform and win a title. Really happy with that. I think it’s really deserved for all of the work we have been doing.

“City had a good performance, it was a difficult game for us, we knew that. It was important again that we found a way to win today. That’s what I’m most of proud of.

“My players know exactly the rules. I told them that it’s important to celebrate for sure, but we have a game against City on Wednesday and we’ll need to be ready because again, we expect a tough game.

“No [they can’t celebrate], they can just got out until 9pm. 9:30 in bed.”