Bompastor: Chelsea must end Man City second leg with ´no regrets´

Sonia Bompastor has urged her Chelsea players to end their Women’s Champions League quarter-final second leg with Manchester City with “no regrets”.

Chelsea find themselves 2-0 down in their last eight clash, as Vivianne Miedema’s brace ended the Blues’ 31-game unbeaten run across all competitions in the first leg.

The result also saw Bompastor lose for the first time since taking over from Emma Hayes in May last year, though Chelsea got their revenge just four days later.

Erin Cuthbert’s late winner saw the Blues beat City 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium last Sunday, moving Bompastor ever closer to the Women’s Super League title.

Thursday’s clash at Stamford Bridge concludes four consecutive games between the two sides in all competitions, and Bompastor wants to end that run with a semi-final spot.

“Man City have a lot of quality, and being able to beat them in a final and in the league is a good result against a really tough team,” Bompastor said.

“We know what we have to do. They won the first leg by two goals. We are in that situation, but we are confident we can turn things around.

“It is always more difficult when you are losing by two goals, but we are confident, we are at home. It will be tough and difficult, but this is what this club is about.

“I just want my players at the end of the game to have no regrets.”

A BIG European night awaits!

Back the Blues and be at the Bridge on Thursday!

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) March 26, 2025

This will be the second Champions League meeting between Chelsea and City after the Citizens’ 2-0 win in the first leg last week.

The Blues had won each of their four games in the competition against fellow British sides prior to that defeat.

Chelsea have, however, won five of their last six home games against City across all competitions (L1), though they were beaten in the 2018-19 League Cup semi-final, the last time they hosted them outside the WSL.

They have also been eliminated from five of their six Champions League knockout stage ties when losing the first leg, with the exception coming against Bayern Munich in 2020-21.

And part of that team four years ago was Millie Bright, who echoed Bompastor’s thoughts ahead of the game, but said her team-mates must remain calm in the contest.

“It is a situation where you have to remain calm,” Bright added. “If you look across our last performances, there are a lot of positives to take, especially the last game, winning the game, the second-half performance.

“Yes, we are not in the position we would like to be in, but we are in it. We are very confident in ourselves and it is not an impossible turnaround.

“We have an opportunity to bounce back and show the qualities and mentality we have as a team. We have got a lot of experience in our squad, a lot of leaders.

“It’s important to remain in this situation, there is a minimum of 90 minutes to play and that’s plenty of time.”