Daily Times

Chelsea reached the Champions League semi-finals, with an impressive 3-0 victory over Manchester City in their quarter-final second leg sealing a 3-2 aggregate win. The Blues – facing City for a fourth consecutive match – needed to lay it all on the line at Stamford Bridge after losing the away leg 2-0, their first loss across all competitions this season. Sandy Baltimore fired the hosts in front in the 14th minute and Nathalie Bjorn nodded in a second before Mayra Ramirez added the decisive third before the break. Sonia Bompastor’s side next face holders Barcelona, who eased into next month’s final four with a 6-1 victory over Wolfsburg. Lauren James had the first taste for Chelsea, dispossessing Gracie Prior and bursting forward before sending a shot across the face of goal, where Khiara Keating managed to get her hand to it.

Bjorn nearly nodded the hosts into a 10th-minute lead with a crossbar-clipping header from a corner, then the woodwork denied Lucy Bronze from just inside the penalty area. Chelsea finally found their opener from the rebound after it bounced back favourably for the approaching Baltimore, whose own left-footed effort also caught the far post, but at the right angle for it to beat the City keeper.

Blues midfielder Keira Walsh tried next with an effort through a crowd, and there were a decent number of opportunities for both sides as the contest picked up pace by the halfway point, when Kerolin fired at Hampton.

Erin Cuthbert shouted for a penalty when she was dragged down by City captain Laia Aleixandri, but the referee disagreed. Chelsea were gaining momentum and Baltimore tried her luck from distance on the right, forcing Keating into a save at her top left corner. And it was Baltimore who delivered the corner that led to the Blues’ second, a thumping Bjorn header to draw the sides level on aggregate in the 38th minute. Ramirez then put Chelsea in the driving seat two minutes before the break following a throw-in.

James won the ball and skirted the edge of the area, then cut back to the advancing Colombia international, who directed it into the bottom corner. Keating came out to claim a cross from Baltimore as the second half got under way. It remained fairly lively but lacking any real opportunities to change the score-line until Johanna Rytting Kaneryd was denied just after the hour, followed soon after by Cuthbert. City remained in the hunt as Vivianne Miedema fired wide with less than 20 minutes remaining, while her side did well to close down what was becoming an increasing threat from Rytting Kaneryd.