Chelsea beat ten-man Manchester United in the Women’s Continental League Cup semi-finals to maintain their challenge of a third successive title. The Blues scored three goals in 13 first-half minutes before Manchester United goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley was sent off later on.
Pernille Harder opened the scoring for the Blues before Jessie Fleming’s header doubled the lead. Vilde Boe Risa got one back for Manchester United but Chelsea’s Jess Carter made it 3-1 before half-time. Things got worse for Manchester United after the break when substitute Sam Kerr who only returned from international duty on Tuesday morning was clattered into by Baggaley outside the box.
United was shown a straight red card with ten minutes left to play. Chelsea who is the defending champions will now wait for either Manchester City or Tottenham who play in the second semi-final later today Thursday in Wimbledon.
Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes speaking about the victory said: “I think she was due that [goal]. She’s had to play in this period back-to-back in many different roles. For her confidence, that goal was important.” “She’s had to play as nine, not necessarily her natural position but she plays it well. I thought she turned Aoife Mannion inside-out for the goal. I thought she was a threat all night and she was a pest.”
For Manchester United, the head coach Marc Skinner said: “That’s what we’re chasing. If we want to be the team we want to be, we have to beat Arsenal and we have to beat Chelsea. We know that’s part of our destiny.” “We need to take these learning curves now. We’ve grown and we’ll keep growing. I just want us to have that personality in the first half that we had in the second half.”