After a disappointing quarterfinal exit from last season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League, Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor has a renewed focus on returning to Europe’s biggest stage — in addition to every other title her refreshed squad will compete for this year.
The Blues kick off their UWCL campaign against Real Sociedad on Aug. 26, with Bompastor having recruited heavily in the off-season to bolster a side that won just one trophy last year; a disappointing result by their own high standards.
“The ambition in Chelsea is to win everything, we know that,” she said after her side defeated the A-League Women All Stars 3-0 in Sydney on Wednesday.
“We set our goals. We want to go as far as possible in every competition, but we also know every competition is becoming more difficult because a lot of clubs are investing and a lot of clubs now are able to perform at their best.
“For Chelsea, as I said last season, we are facing a transition, and I think we are rebuilding in terms of refreshing the squad, rebuilding the culture within the team. We’ll try our best; we’ll work as hard as possible to try to win trophies.”
With key signings including former Arsenal Champions League winner Katie McCabe, France striker Melvine Malard, Japan midfielder Manaka Matsukubo, and Italian international Giulia Dragoni, in addition to the development of England youth players Lexi Potter, Lola Brown and Chloe Sarwie, Bompastor now has the reinforcements to attack multiple competitions at once.
But Chelsea aren’t the only club who have strengthened over the past few months, with clubs across the continent continuing to invest and recruit the players now required to be competitive in an increasingly crowded calendar, including their own domestic rivals Manchester City and Arsenal, who enter the UWCL in the next stage.
“When you approach a Champions League game, you want to be prepared, first of all,” Bompastor said. “You can see now in Europe, there [are] no weak teams. Everyone is getting better.
“The competition is becoming more difficult, and for us, we need to prepare [each] game as if it was like the last game in the Champions League, because the reality is that if we lose both games [against Real Sociedad], or one of the games, and we don’t get the result we want, we will be out.
“So it’s a must-win game, and it’s important for us to prepare for that in order to be in the Champions League group stage.
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“We also know there are fine margins, and sometimes, as much as you work hard, things don’t always go the way you want. But it’s up to us to make sure we turn things our way.”
Chelsea will play Spain’s third-placed finishers Real Sociedad in a two-legged qualifying round on Aug. 26 and Sep. 2.
If they win, they’ll enter the league phase where national club champions enter the competition from Sep. 4. All matches will be shown live on ESPN.
