‘You have to be in it to compete for it’ – Chelsea boss Hayes previews Barcelona clash | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says that the club have been focused on setting up a UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final against European champions FC Barcelona rather than thinking about winning the competition.

The Blues have travelled to Spain ahead of contesting the first leg of their semi-final tie this afternoon.

Hayes has one final opportunity to win the UEFA Women’s Champions League with Chelsea before leaving for the United States in the summer, however, she says that it’s about competing rather than fairytale endings.

“It’s fair to say that barring Lyon beating Barcelona [in 2022], Barcelona have been the top team in Europe in recent years,” Hayes said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “Their results have suggested that, they’ve got world champions at international level and they’re European champions at club level. They’re deserving of all of the accolades they’ve achieved.

“It’s a football match, it’s two legs and all our job has been is to get ourselves into a position where we can come here in the competition. You have to be in it to compete for it. You’re always going to have to face a team like Barcelona at some stage and it happens to be our turn in the semi-finals.

“We understand the team, we understand the opponent and we respect them; they’re world-class with unbelievable players. I’m not thinking about fairytales.”

Going on to discuss what her side need to do well against Barcelona, Hayes said that her team have to embed their principles into the game to the highest standard.

She said “It’s less about personnel and more about structures. When you’re playing against an opponent that’s going to have 70 percent-plus possession of the ball, they’re going to have more control of the game in that regard, so how you defend spaces is important.

“For us, we operate in an environment of principles. The principles are always the same out of possession, the principles are always the same in possession but you might look to exploit a particular area of the pitch or a particular player, you might want to get overloads on.

“Our principles are well-established, we train them all of the time, but when it comes to a game where you’re playing an opponent that you know will dominate the ball, we have to be mindful that the team have to enact all of the principles at the highest level to put us in a position to be very competitive.”

The first leg of Chelsea’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final tie in Barcelona kicks-off at 12.30pm.