Emma Hayes said Chelsea’s Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain is a game for which they have been preparing “all season” and they are a much better side now than they were last season.
Chelsea are England’s only survivors in the competition and face PSG in the first leg at Kingsmeadow on Thursday night with Hayes confident her side will put in a good performance. “I can quite comfortably say at Kingsmeadow in a Champions League game, I don’t struggle to get my team up for this game,” the manager said on Wednesday.
“The focus is to get the most out of our group knowing we have experience and quality throughout the squad. You’d be hard pressed to show me a better squad. We can play a number of different ways based on the quality we have, we are much better at that than we were 12 months ago. The cumulative experience is what gets you close to [winning] this competition. We don’t fear PSG, we respect them, but we know the personnel we have on any day will hurt many teams in Europe.”
Chelsea, who are without the suspended Millie Bright and the injured Anita Asante, are third in the Super League and Hayes is keen to progress in Europe.
“We have collective experience and disappointments that I expect to see we have learned from. I demand a lot in terms of progress in this competition and I know everyone loves what we do and there is no better night than playing the best teams in the Champions League. It is our only route if we want to be involved next season and I am sure it will be a cracker of a game for the neutral. For us it is something we prepare for all year so it is just another game.”
Karen Carney said the team have matured since last season when they lost 5-1 on aggregate to Wolfsburg in the semi-finals. “We are now more equipped,” the captain said. “This group is the most mentally strong I have been part of and the most experienced. We have been building for this type of game.”
The PSG coach, Olivier Echouafni, has told his players to stay calm in order to keep the game alive for the second leg next week. “You have to stay true to yourself,” he said. “We know they are very high intensity matches in which you have to up the tempo of your play and be strong mentally. There are two legs, and we have to get it into our heads that whatever the outcome of the first leg, the second will decide it. We want to do well and go very far in the Champions League.”
In Wednesday night’s first legs, Lyon gained a narrow advantage over Wolsburg. A quarter-final record crowd of 17,840 at Stade de Lyon saw Eugénie Le Sommer and Wendie Renard put the holders 2-0 up early on. Nilla Fischer headed in a free-kick with 26 minutes left for Wolfsburg. Two goals from Toni Duggan and a Mariona Caldentey penalty gave Barcelona a 3-0 home win against Lillestrøm. Slavia Prague fought back to draw 1-1 at home to Bayern Munich, Katerina Svitkova’s long-range finish cancelling out Fridolina Rolfö’s goal for Bayern.
