Chelsea ensured there will be three Women’s Super League teams in the league phase of the Champions League as Keira Walsh’s second-half strike against Real Sociedad extended their three-goal margin from the first leg of the third-round qualifier.
The 5-2 win against the Spanish side in Chelsea’s first game at Wimbledon’s Cherry Red Records stadium gave Sonia Bompastor’s side a commanding lead in the tie, after a rusty start had forced them to come from a goal down. It wasn’t a particularly pretty performance, though, and that continued into the second leg against La Real, who will now drop into the Europa League.
Bompastor, who returned to the dugout after serving a one-match ban in the reverse game, made four changes for the trip to San Sebastián, probably with one eye on the WSL opener on Saturday against Aston Villa. The scorer of Chelsea’s second last week, Veerle Buurman, was named on the bench, alongside Katie McCabe, Sjoeke Nüsken and Alyssa Thompson. Among those to come in was the 20-year-old midfielder Lexi Potter, who scored in her first league start for Chelsea, a 2-1 win against Brighton, in March.
There were only two changes for the home team. The change that mattered most, though, was the one that had taken place in the dugout. In between these two critical Champions League qualifying games, Arturo Ruiz, the Real Sociedad manager, exited and was unveiled as the new Brighton manager following the shock departure of Dario Vidosic. If Vidosic’s exit had been a surprise, Brighton poaching Ruiz was a bigger one. Gorka Álvarez, who left Real Sociedad in 2025 following three seasons managing the reserves and a year as an assistant to SD Eibar’s women’s team, was hurriedly brought in to lead them in their Liga F opener against Logroño on Saturday, a 2-0 loss, and the second leg against Chelsea.
It was a mountain of a task facing the 40-year-old and, in many respects, a bit of a free hit, with few expecting Real Sociedad to come close to overturning a three-goal deficit against European heavyweights.
However, setting the tone for his tenure and building confidence was important. La Real did well against the visitors, holding Bompastor’s side at bay until Walsh swept in from a corner in the 54th minute to kill any outlandish hopes there may have been of a comeback.
Until then, the London side struggled to create clear chances with La Real mirroring their well-organised display in the first half of the first leg.
Ellie Carpenter, playing further forward, ahead of Lucy Bronze on the right, was Chelsea’s best outlet but they couldn’t capitalise on her balls into the middle. Walsh’s side-footed effort in the first half was weak and easy for the goalkeeper Julia Arrula. Aggie Beever-Jones had a good chance to break the deadlock moments before Walsh’s goal but the forward’s strike was too central and Arrula made an easy save.
The perfectionist that Bompastor is, she will be unhappy with the nature of the two games, but the reality is that reaching the league phase, for a team desperately wanting European glory, was what mattered most. In the end the result was comfortable, even if the performance wasn’t, and Chelsea had the chance to give debuts off the bench to their new signings Nelly Las and Giulia Dragoni, and minutes to the talented 17-year-old Chloe Sarwie.
They will have also benefited from valuable competitive minutes before they kickstart their WSL campaign by hosting Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
