Emma Hayes’ hopes of a fairytale ending to her Chelsea career may be over but the chance of ending the season with silverware is not.
Barcelona may have taken the Champions League away from their grasp in controversial circumstances, but there is still a Women’s Super League title to play for.
Hayes, who described the game-changing decision to send off Kadeisha Buchanan in the second leg as the ‘worst in the history of the women’s Champions League’, has to find a way to pick up herself and her players.
Immediately after the game, when emotions were still high, Hayes was struggling to see beyond the refereeing decisions which had cost them a shot at European glory.
Asked whether she could take any positives from the way her team competed across two legs with Barcelona, Hayes replied: ‘How would you feel if you were us right now?’
Emma Hayes must lift herself and her players after Chelsea’s Champions League exit
Hayes labelled the decision to send off Kadeisha Buchanan in the defeat to Barcelona as being the ‘worst in the history of the women’s Champions League’
Chelsea cannot afford to linger on the defeat with the Women’s Super League title on the line
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‘So how can you take anything? You just hope that you get into these positions. We lose, we lose, I can take it, I genuinely can. It’s just really tough to take this one.’
Chelsea midfielder Melanie Leupolz said Hayes did not have many words in the post-match huddle. ‘She said she is still proud of us,’ Leupolz said. ‘We just focus on the league because we want to have at least one trophy this season.’
As hard as it may be, Chelsea cannot afford to linger on this disappointment. A difficult trip to Liverpool awaits on Wednesday and it is a game they cannot afford to drop points in, with Manchester City six clear at the top of the table (assuming City beat Bristol City today).
Chelesa, who have two games in-hand, may have to win every match and hope Khadija Shaw’s season-ending injury stops City from taking maximum points in their remaining fixtures.
In the space of four weeks, Chelsea have gone from competing for a quadruple to facing the possibility of ending the season without a trophy for the first time since the 2018-2019 campaign. There are three weeks and four games left for Chelsea and Hayes to finish on a high.
