Sophie Ingle was delighted after Chelsea Women secured their passage to the knockout stages of the UEFA Women’s Champions League with a controlled 4-0 victory over Albanian champions Vllaznia on Friday evening.
The Blues arrived in the Albanian capital of Tirana knowing victory would confirm our qualification for the knockout stage of the competition. We came into the game with a three-point lead at the top of Group A, having won three and drawn one of our previous four group matches.
Ingle, who captained the side on the night, opened the scoring when she fired home from Guro Reiten’s deflected cross. Fran Kirby doubled our lead before the break after a quickly taken free-kick from Jelena Cankovic caught the Vllaznia defence off guard.
We put the game to bed in the final minutes of the second half when Katerina Svitkova glanced home our third from an inviting Cankovic cross, before Maren Mjelde added a fourth from the penalty spot with almost the final kick of the game.
Having been awarded the captaincy, Ingle lead by example and set us on our way with her sweet strike from the edge of the box to open the scoring. The skipper was happy to see us book our place in the knockout phase, but insisted there is still work to be done to secure first place in the group.
‘We’re really pleased with the result and to qualify. We’ve got one more game now on Thursday against Paris Saint-Germain, so hopefully we can top the group.’
On the subject of her goal, Ingle tried to recall the moment the ball fell kindly into her path and the finish that followed. Contributing goals is something the central midfielder has added to her game, with both her goals this season arriving in Europe.
‘I don’t really know actually! I think it was Guro who passed it to me. We were discussing at half-time who it was. It just came to my right foot and I side-footed it into the corner.’
One game remains before the festive break. The Blues will host PSG at Stamford Bridge on Thursday in their final group stage encounter, and Ingle insisted the focus is on finishing top of the group in front of our fans on home turf.
‘It’s going to be at Stamford Bridge so hopefully we get a lot of fans. The game is just before Christmas, it’ll be a nice atmosphere. Hopefully we can beat PSG and go top of the group!’