Hayes highlights Chelsea’s depth after victory over Ajax | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said that her side have more attacking depth this year following their 4-1 aggregate victory over Ajax in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals.

The Blues drew 1-1 with Ajax in the second leg at Stamford Bridge last night after winning 3-0 away in Amsterdam a little over a week ago. The 4-1 aggregate success saw Chelsea reach their fifth UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final.

Last night’s game saw six changes made to the starting XI that won the away leg and Chelsea boss Hayes made reference to squad depth and the importance of rotation when speaking to the media after the match.

“We love winning,” Hayes said. “No-one cares who scores, everybody has a role to play and some will play more than others.

“We have to count on everyone throughout the season and I trust the squad. We’re in the place we want to be and some players absolutely needed to recover this evening, so we’re happy with that.”

One of the changes made by Hayes saw Zećira Mušović return in goal. The Swede made some brilliant recoveries in the second half, bouncing back from a first half in which she made a few kicking errors.

Commenting on Mušović’s performance, Hayes said “You gain confidence when you are playing and Zećira hasn’t been, so fair play to her for the saves that she made in the second half.

“She knows that the errors were there in the first half but she is an incredible character, someone who’s not only very self-reflective about her moments but will also want to keep working on them.”

Hayes also praised goalscorer Mayra Ramírez, who made her UEFA Women’s Champions League debut for the club last night.

“She was really excited about tonight,” Hayes said. “I’m happy for the goal and it gives me selection problems for the weekend.”

Reflecting on the overall performance, Hayes said that making so many changes had an impact on the flow of the game.

She said “When you make so many changes, you have to expect that there’s a disruption on both sides of the ball and I felt that was probably the case throughout the game.

“First half, we were 4-0 up [on aggregate], they felt like they needed to go for it and we relaxed. I thought we were too transitional but listen, we’re through and I’ll focus on that.”

Commenting on the differences between this year’s squad and last season’s side, Hayes highlighted the depth in attacking options that she now has available to her.

She said “I think there’s a bit more diversity in the squad, more attacking options, more variety. I’d say that’s probably at the heart of it, a little bit more experience. We’ve been in the latter stages a lot of times, we know where we have to be to play those sorts of games.

“Attacking options, we talk about [Sjoeke] Nüsken, Lauren James, [Mayra] Ramírez, [Catarina] Macário, [Fran] Kirby, [Guro] Reiten, [Johanna Rytting] Kaneryd, [Aggie] Beever-Jones. For me, that’s deeper attacking options for the team.

“We haven’t won anything but we’re in the place we want to be. I don’t know who the opponent will be [in the semi-finals] but we’re ready.”

Chelsea will face either SK Brann or FC Barcelona in the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-finals next month. Their semi-final opponents will be determined this evening.