Kaptein sinks Manchester City to send Chelsea into Women’s League Cup final | OneFootball

Chelsea reached a seventh consecutive Women’s League Cup final as they edged past their rivals ­Manchester City to book a meeting with Manchester United – but even the Chelsea head coach, Sonia Bompastor, had to admit her team were a “little bit lucky” as City applied intense pressure.

Wieke Kaptein’s first-half header won the contest for the holders, but Hannah Hampton’s ­acrobatics in goal and a series of spurned opportunities from City were the key difference, leaving home fans baffled as to how they had not reached the final, which will be played at Ashton Gate on 15 March.

“These games are defined by fine margins,” said Bompastor, who maintained her run of reaching every domestic final since joining Chelsea in the summer of 2024. “We were clini­cal but, if you analyse the game, both teams were really close to each other.”

Just 11 days before the sides meet again at the Etihad Stadium for a crucial league fixture that could go a long way towards determining the Women’s Super League title, there was always a risk this meeting could feel like a warm‑up to the main event.

Thankfully, though, after a quiet start, it turned into a terrific contest that served to further whet the appetite for the title race, and City will take great confidence from how often they opened up Chelsea’s defence.

“We definitely deserved more,” Andrée Jeglertz, the Manchester City head coach, said. “We are sitting here with the disappointment of a loss, but at the same time we’re feeling: ‘Wow, [look] how far we have come this season.’”

City hold a six-point lead over Chelsea in the WSL and this resilient win for the defending ­champions could conversely serve as a statement from Bompastor’s side, but Jeglertz said: “There will be no frustration. It is more a feeling of: ‘OK, you do the same performance [on 1 February] and just be a little bit sharper in both boxes, then the possibilities to get another result will be big.”

This could be the last season that these two sides take part in this competition for a lengthy period, with plans afoot for the three English teams taking part in the Champions League next season to be exempt from this cup as part of a revamp of the format.

Chelsea will face United, League Cup finalists for the first time, after they won at Arsenal in their semi-final on Wednesday night. United’s win came courtesy of Elisabeth Terland’s low finish on the stroke of half-time, before Arsenal’s Olivia Smith was sent off for a second bookable offence.

At the Joie Stadium, after Kaptein scored when she was allowed to get in front of the City centre-back Jade Rose and jump unchallenged at the far post to nod in Sandy Baltimore’s hanging cross, City were nearly able to mask a disappointing first-half display with an equaliser moments before half-time, but Vivianne Miedema struck the base of a post after Hampton had ventured out from her goal to try to stop Khadija Shaw’s run. When they struck the woodwork for a second time, moments after the break, it came amid a sustained spell of pressure, with Kerstin Casparij’s effort bouncing back off a post. That started off a flurry of chances.

Grace Clinton headed wide for the hosts before Hampton saved well from both Alex Greenwood and Miedema. At the other end, the ­Chelsea substitute Lauren James forced Ayaka Yamashita into a superb reflex save with a rising strike.

Hampton had to be at her best to tip over Yui Hasegawa’s half-volley in eye-catching style and later palm away Lauren Hemp’s curler, with Chelsea – who were 9-1 winners against Liverpool in their quarter-final – hanging on.

Header image: [Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA]