Chelsea and Manchester City confirmed their places in the last-16 of the Champions League with wins against Benfica and Göteborg respectively.
A blistering shot from the England forward Lauren Hemp in the first half ensured City took control of the tie following a testing 2-1 victory in Sweden, before two in two minutes from Georgia Stanway put the score out of sight.
“It was pretty crazy,” said Hemp of her goal. “I don’t think I’ve shot from that distance for City before. It happened in slow motion for me. I was thinking: ’Go on, go on, go on’, and it went in.”
Perhaps buoyed by the Scottish winger Caroline Weir’s injury time goal against Arsenal on Sunday to bring City within a point of Gunners who sit in third, Gareth Taylor’s side showed no signs of their heavy schedule impacting on the pitch.
It took 38 minutes for City to break the resolve of the Swedish champions. Hemp, who has missed most of the season with a hamstring injury, ran the Göteborg defence ragged and cut in from the left before firing past the goalkeeper Jennifer Falk on her weaker right foot.
In the second half City pulled the tie even further out of Göteborg’s reach, with the substitute Stanway twice tapping in rebounds after Falk saved two Ellen White attempts within two minutes.
Chelsea’s manager, Emma Hayes, decided to take no risks despite a five-goal cushion from their trip to Portugal last week, fielding a strong XI. Benfica were a much more organised side at Kingsmeadow but they were undone by a Beth England cross which floated in at the back post with the Australian forward Sam Kerr lurking.
Kerr got one of her own in the second half when Guro Reiten sent a defence-splitting pass through to her and she slipped the ball home, her eighth goal in all competitions. England added Chelsea’s third in added time with a backheel after she scuffed the first attempt.
Last season’s surprise semi-finalists, the Scottish champions Glasgow City, crashed out against Sparta Prague as a 1-0 home defeat was added to their 2-1 away loss. A poor pass from Nicole Robertson played in Lucie Martinkova seven minutes in and the Czech forward slotted cooly past Lee Alexander.
City were dealt a further blow when Robertson forced the ball from a defender and fed the Man City loanee Tyler Toland who fired into the top corner from 30 yards, but the whistle had already been blown for a soft foul by Robertson.
The draw for the last-16 games will take place on 16 February, with the games played on the 3/4 and 10/11 March.
