In an extraordinary night of European drama at Kingsmeadow, Chelsea Women were reduced to 10 players within a quarter of an hour, conceded two penalties... yet emerged 2-0 victors against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
With the away leg of this double header to come in Spain next week, the Blues are favourites to progress to the quarterfinals of the competition they most dearly want to win after a display of resilience that delighted manager Emma Hayes.
When Sophie Ingle was shown red after tangling with lightning-fast Rasheedat Ajibade sprinting in on goal after 12 minutes, Wednesday was looking bleak for a Chelsea side without injured captain Magda Eriksson.
But Ann-Katrin Berger, playing in goal opposite the keeper she replaced at Chelsea, Hedvig Lindahl, was having the match of her career. As Deyna Castellanos stepped forward to take the pen, Berger dived right and clawed it wide.
The Blues contained the attacking pressure and were relieved to still have the score at 0-0 at half-time. Yet in the second half, the Blues played as if it was still 11 v 11, such was their display of unity and purpose.
When Sam Kerr was felled, Chelsea won a penalty of their own after 57 minutes, with Maren Mjelde beating her old teammate Lindahl for an unlikely 1-0 lead.
More drama followed as the low mist crept in. Fran Kirby’s shot hit the post, rebounded to Kerr, and the Australian teed up Kirby for a second go, scoring off the post past Lindahl's fingertips for 2-0.
After Berger clattered Ludmila, Atletico were awarded their second penalty by Swedish referee Tess Olofsson.
This time Berger dived left, preventing Merel van Dongen from getting an away goal. In the melee that followed the save, she took an accidental kick to the face from Andersson, cueing the arrival of four hefty stretcher bearers, waddling across the pitch in the night air.
But like some kind of goalkeeping terminator, Berger was patched up and soldiered on.
Remarkable display
"Goalkeepers don’t get praised enough," said Hayes, and while she was reluctant to single out any individual for praise after a heroic team effort, she finally relented.
"All right," she said. "Let’s give her the credit tonight. Ann-Katrin is held in the highest regard in the dressing room by other members of the team."
After the match, Atletico Madrid manager Jose Luis Sanchez Vera was understandably terse, even tetchy, when asked why his side had failed to make more of a player advantage, and the award of two penalties.
"We made two mistakes and missed two penalties, but football comes down to what happens in the two boxes,” he said. “Chelsea took their chances; we didn’t."
Hayes said that it all boiled down to discipline, structure and game management. She felt the ref got the big decisions right but quibbled about consistency. Ji, for instance, got a yellow card for a supposed studs-up tackle, while one of the Spanish players wasn’t carded for a similar incident.
Nevertheless, Chelsea go into Sunday's league game at West Ham with a spring in their step and can look forward to facing Atletico in the second leg with every chance of getting into the last eight of the Champions League.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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