Chelsea’s season ended triumphantly as Sonia Bompastor’s team won the Women’s FA Cup, beating Manchester United x-x to secure the domestic treble and bring a record-breaking season to a close.
Watching at Wembley was Serena Williams and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, who this week announced he had bought a minority stake in Chelsea Women. Cameras cued to the applauding Americans as Chelsea broke the deadlock just before the break.
It was Sandy Baltimore who put Chelsea ahead from the penalty spot. In front of the Manchester Untied fans, she cooly sent Phallon Tullis-Joyce the wrong way, punishing Celin Bizet for a clumsy foul on Erin Cuthbert.
Though United were competitive, Chelsea never looked in trouble once they took the lead. Catarina Macario’s powerful second-half header doubled Chelsea’s lead, while Baltimore scored her second late on from close range as the Londoners completed the incredible feat of going unbeaten in the Women’s Super League (WSL), League Cup and FA Cup this season.
Serena Williams poses for a selfie with her daughter, Olympia, and husband Alexis Ohanian ahead of kick-off (Justin Tallis / AFP via Getty Images)
Was that a silly foul from Celin Bizet?
The short answer is yes. The first half was set to limp into halftime until Cuthbert was chopped down in the penalty area by Bizet with 42 minutes on the clock.
As the preceding 40-plus minutes of a tense first half established, this match was always going to be decided by someone blinking first and it was the defending champions, who had started the match well, who did.
Bizet in particular had struggled to keep hold of the lively Cuthbert a few times and found herself once again unable to deal with the midfielder, sticking a leg out high and wild in the penalty box — an ill-judged decision to make against a team that has been awarded five penalties in the WSL this season, missing only one.
Baltimore deserves credit for stepping up and sending Tullis-Joyce the wrong way, particularly against a cacophonous backdrop of angry United fans.
Megan Feringa
Cuthbert’s crucial contribution
Like many FA Cup finals, this was a scrappy affair lacking in outright quality. It was a game of duels, of fouls and of stoppages. And, in a way, that suited Cuthbert.
That sounds like a backhand compliment, and the Scot’s technical quality shouldn’t be underestimated. But there’s also no better in the WSL at battling in midfield, making tackles, winning fouls and slaloming away from opponents in a congested midfield zone. The decisive moment of the game was Cuthbert getting to the ball ahead of Bizet and winning the penalty for Chelsea’s opener. It wasn’t a pretty contribution, but it was crucial.
There was a moment in the second half when Cuthbert first dispossessed her opposite number Grace Clinton, then dribbled away from her, got her body in the way and won a free-kick herself. It’s little things like that, as much as her driving runs, which makes her so valuable.
She was a deserved winner of Chelsea’s Player of the Year award this season. It was the second time she’s won the award, the first being six years ago. She’s also now won eight league titles and five FA Cups, yet probably remains slightly under-appreciated.
Michael Cox
Skinner makes bold substitutions
No-one could accuse Marc Skinner of not going for it. His first substitutions both involved bringing on an attacker for a defender.
At the break, Ella Toone replaced centre-back Millie Turner, with Dominique Janssen dropping from the holding role into defence, and Toone playing at the top of midfield. Then, 20 minutes from time, Melvine Malard was introduced in place of right-back Aoife Mannion, with Bizet moving from the right wing to a somewhat unfamiliar position on the right of defence.
And to United’s credit, they had a decent spell at the start of the second half, injecting that extra attacking quality without a sense they had lost their shape. At the same time, they rarely looked like breaking down a Chelsea defence that has looked solid all season, either with a back four, or this back three that Bompastor has favoured in recent weeks.
Ten minutes from time, Skinner went further. Bizet herself was sacrificed as Skinner summoned his eternal Plan B striker, Rachel Williams. At that point they did feel top-heavy. Chelsea found space to break into and, ultimately, won the game by a bigger margin than the balance of play for much of the game would suggest.
Michael Cox
What did Sonia Bompastor say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What did Marc Skinner say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
(Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)