Last week’s 5-2 win over Real Sociedad saw defender Naomi Girma named Blues captain for the evening, and she marked the occasion by scoring a crucial equaliser after the Spanish side had taken an early lead. Or did she?
Girma was officially credited with the goal by UEFA, but speaking ahead of the second leg in San Sebastian, she revealed that what looked to be a header from a dangerous inswinging Katie McCabe corner wasn’t what it seemed.
‘So… I didn't actually touch the ball on the goal,’ Girma confirmed straight away. ‘It was Katie's goal. Yeah, we all went and celebrated with her.
‘It’s always an honour to wear the armband because we have such a great team and such great players. It’s also great because you know that everyone on the team is a leader and leads during the game too.’
Sociedad started strongly and gave the Blues a real test at Plough Lane. The teams went in at half-time with the scores locked at 1-1. After the break, we inched ahead thanks to a Veerle Buurman header, but our determined opponents fought back once more as we passed the hour mark at 2-2.
The final portion of the game saw us burst into life with a brace from Melvine Malard and a Lauren James strike, handing us a three-goal advantage in the second leg. Girma explained how we made the final breakthrough, but also warned against complacency in the second leg.
‘We were able to wear them down throughout the game,’ she said. ‘And I think we did a good job of capitalising on our opportunities, especially near the end, to get those three goals in the last part of the game. There was a lot of good play. I think we just started expressing ourselves and playing free.
‘They're a really good side. I think we know nothing's given and you have to earn everything going into every game.
‘I think they'll be aggressive. They'll be disciplined again but obviously trying to get forward to score goals. As you saw in the first game, they are a good side and they were really good in their defence and good at creating opportunities when they could. I think they'll be looking to do that again.
‘So we're going to have to come out and put in a good performance. That’s definitely been the messaging throughout the team and that's what we're hoping to do tomorrow.’
This season has seen Chelsea face back-to-back Women’s Champions League qualifiers against Real Sociedad before the start of the Women’s Super League campaign.
We will return to our new permanent home at Stamford Bridge for the first league fixture against Aston Villa this Saturday with two competitive fixtures already in the bag.
It’s a different way to start the season than we have been used to at Chelsea and, while it would’ve been preferable to qualify automatically for the UWCL, Girma feels it could give us the edge against Villa.
‘Playing two Champions League games at the beginning of the season is definitely different than I've experienced since being here,’ Girma concluded. ‘In pre-season we did our best to prepare, knowing that these were going to be our first games. So we did have this in mind.
‘Hopefully it sets us up well for the season to have played two competitive matches already. The Champions League is a big goal of ours. We’ve known from the end of last season that this is something we were going to have to do.
‘The preparation in pre-season has been leading up to this. It's been really good.’