Substitute Catarina Macario scored two penalties as Chelsea came from behind to beat Real Madrid and move into the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals as Group B winners.
Real had looked on course to snatch the top spot after Scotland forward Caroline Weir gave them an early lead with her shot taking a deflection off Lucy Bronze before Hannah Hampton could not keep the ball out, despite getting a hand to the strike.
Sonia Bompastor, in danger of suffering a first loss since she took charge of the Blues in the summer, brought on United States international Macario for the ineffective Mayra Ramirez in a game-changing substitution at half-time.
The impact was instant. After already having an effort ruled out for offside and another shot go just wide, Macario scored her first penalty in the 51st minute after she had been brought down by Olga Carmona.
The defender, who scored when Spain beat England 1-0 in the final of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, conceded another penalty shortly afterwards as she handled following Wieke Kaptein’s flick.
Macario again fired her penalty high to the right side of the goal to score her second goal in only 12 minutes of action.
Real could not find a way back into the game as Chelsea won Group B with six wins out of six. Meanwhile, Bompastor has now won 15 and drawn one of her 16 games as Blues boss since she replaced Emma Hayes in the summer.
It means Chelsea will face one of the group runners-up in March’s two-legged quarter-finals, with the draw held in Nyon, Switzerland on 7 February.
German side Wolfsburg will finish second in Group A, while the winners and runners-up of Group C and Group D will be known on Wednesday.
Bayern Munich currently leads Group C over Arsenal, before they meet at Meadow Park, while Manchester City will finish above Barcelona in Group D if they earn a point or only lose by a one-goal margin in their match in Spain.
(BBC)
ALSO READ FROM SPORTING TRIBUNE
Lukaku's season has been blighted by a hamstring problem, limiting the striker to just seven…
“Alhaji Galadima was not just a football administrator but a pillar in the sports community....
Bournemouth are currently eighth in the Premier League following Saturday's win at Newcastle....
"We're all very clear on what we need to do, what we want to do…
The France centre-back's current deal expires this summer, five years after he joined from RB…
The police detained around 100 people, and while it was not immediately clear whether any…
This website uses cookies.