A blog of two halves

Will Chelsea's domestic treble be the springboard for a new era?

The Blues triumphed in the FA Cup final, to top off an incredible season.

20 May 2025
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Chelsea fans at Wembley
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Getty

Wearing a cape, like a superhero, with the word 'Unrivalled' on the back, Blues manager Sonia Bompastor hailed her players' achievement after an FA Cup final victory against Manchester United capped a 30-match unbeaten domestic season.

Having being passed the baton by long-serving success machine Emma Hayes at the end of May last year, Bompastor has exceeded all expectations, defying pundit predictions that with a fresh leader Chelsea would need time to readjust.

The transition has been seamless, culminating in joyous scenes at Wembley as the Blues lifted their fifth FA Cup, following invincible runs in both league and league cup - a treble which will strike fear into the hearts of rivals as the Bompastor era threatens to rival, or even outshine, the Hayes age.

Sonia's next task – backed by heavy investment from new minority owner Alexis Ohanian, husband of Serena Williams and co-founder of the £15billion Reddit social media platform – is to lift 'Big Ears', the Champions League trophy.

Having been humiliated by Barcelona in this year's European semi, the mission is to use the cash injection to tweak and improve the squad to do battle next season. There's even the rumour of further money from racing driver Lewis Hamilton.

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian watch on in the stands

Bompastor will have one 'new signing' as striker Sam Kerr returns to full fitness. "She was sad not to have been in the squad [for the cup final]," said the gaffer.

After weathering an initial 20-minute onslaught from United on a sunny afternoon in front of a 74,412-strong crowd, Chelsea took control and rarely looked in danger from last year's cup champions.

When Erin Cuthbert was floored in the area by Celin Bizet, two minutes before halftime, Sandy Baltimore sent keeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce the wrong way for the opening goal.

And there it stayed, with Chelsea nursing a 1-0 lead until the 84th minute, when sub Catarina Macario headed a second before Baltimore doubled her tally to make it a convincing 3-0 win and send the blue half of Wembley wild.

League, League Cup and FA Cup have helped heal the wound of the Champions League defeat against Barcelona – an 8-2 aggregate drubbing that vividly illustrates the gulf that still exists between English and continental teams.

"It feels really great to be dominant in England, but when you think about it, we didn't win the Champions League and I think our goal and our ambition is to make sure we compete against the best team in Europe," Sonia said. "Barcelona for sure, but also teams like Lyon."

Ten of Chelsea's 19 WSL wins were by a single goal margin (including seven 1-0 scorelines), showing just how tight the league competition has become and how the overall standard has risen.

Lucy Bronze lifts the trophy
Image credit
Getty

Sonia welcomed that, saying: "We want to have competition; when you have to compete, you produce your best." She added that trying to shepherd a single-goal advantage to the end of any match boiled down to professional game management.

"When you are not efficient enough, it brings you to a different gameplan where you have to find solutions… maybe bringing players in to change that and score some goals. Sometimes it's about changing the system, sometimes changing the players, but you have to make those decisions.

"So when your team is only leading by one goal, you have to be careful not to concede and make substitutions to bring on the right player to score."

After a few weeks on the sun loungers by the pool in her beloved France, Sonia will gather her post-Euros squad together (the international tournament runs from 2 July to 27 July) and plot her campaign for the new season, which kicks off on 7 September. Could this year's domestic treble be the springboard to continental glory in 2026?

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

Tim Harrison

Tim is our Chelsea FC blogger.

He also writes our Shepherds Bush Cricket Club match reports during the football close season.

Tim has been writing Chelsea match reports since the late 1980s for newspapers and, more recently, websites.

When he first reported on the Blues, the press box was a metal cage suspended over the lip of the old west stand - and you reached it via a precarious walkway over the heads of the fans.

But he has been a Chelsea fan since his father took an excited seven-year-old to watch Chelsea v Manchester United in the mid 1960s... and covered his ears every time the chanting got too ripe.

In July 2005 he wrote The Rough Guide to Chelsea, published by Penguin, which sold 15,000 copies.

His favourite player of all time is Charlie Cooke, the mazy winger who lit up Chelsea's left wing in the 60s and 70s.

When he isn't watching the Blues, Tim acts, paints, writes and researches local history.

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