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Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor says her side needs to “focus on the future” after their 28-game unbeaten run came to an end following a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City.Two goals from half-time substitute Vivianne Miedema secured the victory in the first leg of the Women’s Champions League quarter-final at the Joie Stadium.
Despite the defeat, Bompastor says her Chelsea side, who beat City in the League Cup final on Saturday, still have ambitions to “go deep in every competition.”
“Tonight was a tough performance, a tough result for us,” the 44-year-old told DAZN: ” Maybe the only positive thing from the night is we have a second leg. We will play at home and when there is hope you need to believe it will be possible.
“We said our ambitions at the beginning of the season and we won’t change that. Our ambitions are still there. That is the first time we have been beaten, so that is not a drama.
“It is a big competition for us and we want to go deep in every competition. We still have one game to reverse the situation and there is still hope for us.”
Miedema had been introduced by interim coach Nick Cushing, who replaced Gareth Taylor last week, for Lily Murphy.
“We respect them so much – they have been unreal again this season,” Miedema, 28, said to BBC Sport.
“We still have to play each other two times. It’s going to be really difficult but I think we can get a lot of confidence from this game.”
Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze told TNT Sports after the game: “I don’t think we were good enough, we didn’t have enough effort in our press. City were more organised and we were miles off our game.
“We’ve had a fantastic first half of the season and everyone ups their game when they play Chelsea now because they want to be the first team to beat us, and that’s happened today.
“Although we’re 2-0 down we’re completely confident we can turn this around. I think it (the second leg) will be the biggest game of the season so far. It’s still all to play for.”
City face Chelsea in the Women’s Super League (WSL) at the Etihad on Sunday before the second leg at Stamford Bridge on March 27.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Chelsea, Manchester City, UK Women's Football
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