Young defender Veerle Buurman stood out with an exceptional performance as we progressed to the Women’s FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday afternoon, but the 19-year-old was keen to emphasise that the victory was a team effort.
The Netherlands international provided the assist for Sam Kerr’s opener after 78 minutes, before Simi Awujo’s equaliser took us to extra-time. Naomi Girma struck to put the Blues back in front after 99 minutes, and the defence had to hold firm to withstand an onslaught of late attacks from Marc Skinner’s side to take the hard-fought victory.
Buurman also impressed with her defensive capabilities, making several perfectly-timed tackles throughout the contest against a strong opponent.
‘It was such a good game, a good team performance,’ she said afterwards. ‘I'm really happy with the result. We fight as a team, and we go to the next round.
‘I think we showed what we can do, how we can perform as a team. I'm really proud that I play for Chelsea with such good players who have a lot of quality, so I'm really happy with that.’
Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor made three changes once the 90 minutes were complete, replacing Lucy Bronze, Sjoeke Nusken and Lauren James with the returning Kadeisha Buchanan, as well as Wieke Kaptein and Guro Reiten.
Buurman explained that while the personnel differed slightly in extra-time, the message from the boss remained the same.
‘She told us to do what we did before, in the whole game,’ explained the Dutch international. ‘Keep the ball, do what we were doing well and defend as a team, and I think we did that.’
Chelsea purchased Buurman from PSV Eindhoven on deadline day in the 2024 summer transfer window. She was immediately loaned back to the Dutch club, where she spent the entirety of last season, but returned this summer and has so far made 11 starts and two substitute appearances under Bompastor.
Having missed our domestic Treble-winning campaign last season, the defender is hungry to claim some silverware this time around, and somewhat reluctantly acknowledged the strength in her own individual performance against Manchester United before immediately pivoting to praise the collective effort.
‘I think winning a trophy is something you are working towards for the whole season, and this was such a big game at the beginning of the Cup,’ she continued. ‘It was really important to win, and we did all so well, the whole team.
‘I had a good game. I think if we're playing as a team and do what we did today, it was just a really good game from us all. It was just a really good team performance.’