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Chelsea booked their spot in the Women’s Champions League league phase after a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad in the second leg of their third qualifying round tie.<\/p>\n
The Blues sealed a 6-2 aggregate victory during a lacklustre match in Spain, which saw Keira Walsh score the only goal of the game in the 54th minute.<\/p>\n
The England midfielder’s strike subsequently secured Chelsea’s place in Friday’s draw for the league phase of the competition.<\/p>\n
Blues boss Sonia Bompastor made four changes to the side that won 5-2 in London last week, with Lucy Bronze, Kadiesha Buchanan, Lexi Potter and Wieke Kaptein all starting.<\/p>\n
Ellie Carpenter caused problems in the early stages of the first half by sending a series of teasing crosses into the box.<\/p>\n
Lauren James blasted the ball past the post and Walsh latched onto another brilliant cross from Carpenter, but Julia Arrula easily saved before being called into action to deny Carpenter.<\/p>\n
With the score goalless at half-time, Giulia Dragoni was introduced after the break to make her Chelsea debut.<\/p>\n
Aggie Beever-Jones had the best chance of the game 53 minutes in after being played through by Carpenter and her strike was palmed away by Arrula.<\/p>\n
However, from the resulting corner Chelsea suddenly opened the scoring from a short routine which reached Walsh outside the box and the midfielder curled the ball home.<\/p>\n
Hannah Hampton pushed Ainhoa Marin’s strike behind for a corner as Sociedad enjoyed a brief threatening spell.<\/p>\n
Nelly Las dragged a shot wide for Chelsea, who comfortably navigated the closing stages of the match to reach the league phase.<\/p>\n
Chelsea<\/strong> boss Sonia Bompastor<\/strong> speaking to the club’s official website:<\/p>\n “I’m pleased with the result. We kept a clean sheet, which is always important, and when you do that, you always have a bigger chance to win games.<\/p>\n “I’m glad we could rotate the team with the starting 11, but also the players who came in.<\/p>\n “I think today we gave some really good opportunities to the young players to come and experience a Champions League game, so when you have the opportunity to do that, I think it’s always something really positive.<\/p>\n “I’m happy and really excited now to be in the Champions League this season. The goal was for us to qualify, which is what we have done.<\/p>\n “People will probably think when you are Chelsea, it’s easy to do, but we played against a really strong team in Real Sociedad.<\/p>\n “Over the two legs, they showed some really good quality, and I think these two games are a really good preparation for us to come into the season in the league.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n