Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor reflects on their UWCL quarter-final victory over Man City.

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Watch Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor reflects on their UWCL quarter-final victory over Man City. - NicheSportMedia on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Okay everybody, so we're going to do, obviously, reaction to the game tonight, but then we're

00:07going to do an embargoed section in lieu of a press conference tomorrow to preview West

00:11Ham on Sunday. So that will be embargoed until half past ten tomorrow night. What's up? This,

00:18is that okay? You don't want to hear me, you want to hear Sonia. Yeah? The mic's are playing

00:27up a little bit. So anyway, I'll stop talking now and we'll kick off with reaction to tonight.

00:32Is that all right with you, Paul? It's fine with me. All right, lovely. Good, good, good.

00:38Emma, thank you. Hi Sonia. Hi. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, are you allowing

00:44yourself to dream a little bit more about football now? I'm allowing myself to just

00:49enjoy. I think, you know, sometimes in football you work really hard, you sometimes get good

00:56results, sometimes not, but I think tonight was a perfect night for us. Being able, again,

01:03to play at Stamford Bridge with our fans and being able to turn things around. Again, I'm

01:09really proud of my players and yeah, it was a difficult challenge, but we believed it

01:16was possible and I think this belief was something really strong in our side and maybe made the

01:22difference. Yeah, I think it's really important, you know, the mental aspect in terms of performance

01:42are sometimes more than 70-80% of the performance and the results. So I think tonight, yeah,

01:51it was part of the game, obviously, was also to have this belief, to have this mental strength

01:57going into the game and just to think it was possible to achieve that. Even if, again,

02:04the challenge was tough because, as you could see, we faced Man City four times. When you

02:10have to play the same team four times in 12 days, that's a really big, big, big, big challenge.

02:16And yeah, I just want to mention, I think City did very well in these four games against

02:22us and yeah, I just have a small thinking about them because I know they had some injuries

02:28and maybe it was something that went more in our side because they didn't have all their squad.

02:34Barcelona next Chelsea, obviously, play them in the fifth and third year in the semi-final

02:40of the road. What's your plan to be on? Can you beat them?

02:44We'll do everything possible to make that happen. But as you know, Barcelona has a lot

02:51of experience, a lot of talent in the squad. I was watching before our game their game

02:57against Wolfsburg and yeah, it will be, again, a tough challenge. But in football, again,

03:03everything is possible. So, I will bring all the confidence we need to go into that

03:08two games. But first of all, we want to enjoy because it was not easy. We had a really great

03:14performance today. So, I want to enjoy and we have some time to reflect on the games

03:20in April against Barcelona.

03:21Enjoy it, it's a pleasure.

03:23Thank you, thank you.

03:24Thanks. Jessie, please.

03:25Hey Sonia.

03:26Hey.

03:27Congrats.

03:29You talked about the decision to take half-time tonight. Obviously, we saw a glorious performance

03:34against Cairns, Micah on Sunday. What led to you kicking Kika tonight and what were

03:41you looking for in her and the Cairns in the football game against them?

03:46Did you watch her performance on Sunday? On the league game?

03:51Yes.

03:52I think it was obvious. She had a really great performance. I think she just bring to the

03:57team a lot of quality in possession of the ball. She's a young player but she's really

04:02confident on the ball. But also, she works so hard out of possession and I think it was

04:08something important going against City to make sure our high press was right. So, she

04:14just brought the right thing into that aspect. But also with the ball, she created a lot.

04:20She works hard for the team so she deserves to play and she had two great performances

04:26on Sunday, on the league game, but again tonight.

04:29Also, can I ask, in the first leg and in the first half on Sunday, we saw Caroline really

04:36support the backline of the problem. In the second half of tonight, we didn't really see

04:40much of her at all. How did you approach the defensive line against her?

04:46For me, Caroline is a world-class player. So, never easy for the defenders. I was a

04:52left-back myself so I was fingers crossed not to play against her because she could

04:57have caused some trouble for me. But hopefully, I was not playing. I had some video returns

05:04with Sandy and Neve Charles to try to explain to them what I was expecting them to do against

05:12Caroline. But it's not only a 1v1. I think also as a team, we had to defend Caroline

05:20all together because, again, she's a really talented player and she can bring a lot into

05:26the game. But I think the way we find a better balance in the team with our left-back, but

05:34also with some other players in the team, was better in the second half on Sunday, but

05:40also today.

05:42Catherine, next please.

05:44Hi.

05:59Yeah, we never do it on purpose to lose games, for sure, because that's never easy to turn

06:04things around. But actually, I think if you remember, I just said after the first leg,

06:11we were alive and I knew it was possible, even if I knew the challenge would be tough.

06:17But I think it's important also for us to be able to bounce back and to have the opportunity

06:25to lose games and see how we can react as a team. And for me, I think we put a lot of

06:31energy as a staff and myself as a manager to make sure we just, from the first leg,

06:39the last game in the Champions League against City, going into this game, we just make sure

06:46the plan was the right one. You never know until you play the game and you get a good

06:51result, but I think we, from last week going into this game, the plan with the staff and

06:57everyone, our body language and the way we showed the players we were confident going

07:03into this game was probably the right thing to do. And yeah, it's good also to learn from

07:08your players because that's the first loss and I think you learn how your squad reacts

07:15to that, so it's important also for me.

07:18Sandra, please.

07:36I think I'm lucky enough to have two really good left-backs. Neve is one of them also.

07:44That's a luxury to be the Chelsea manager and to have to pick one of them. I think they

07:49bring different qualities into our squad and into our team, but obviously Sunday is having

07:55a really good season. Left-back is not her favourite position. I just felt like she brings

08:02so much confidence in the ball when she plays in that position. She's able to hold the ball

08:08under pressure and she has a really good left foot. She can deliver really great balls,

08:14so I think that's important, depending on the games, to have this quality with Sandy.

08:20I think she's making an impact in her season for us and I'm really pleased for her.

08:26And for you, what have you taken away from facing the same team four times in a row and

08:31having different tactics? What's that been like for you?

08:36I would say, you know, probably we still have one game on Sunday, but you finish this block

08:42really exhausted as a manager because you put a lot of energy and it's even more hard

08:49when you play the same team because you think even more. Because sometimes you just think,

08:55OK, how are they going to think I'm going to do that tactic? But maybe they think I'm

09:00doing that one and your brain just goes crazy. So it's important to find, again, the right

09:06balance, not having to think too much about them, but focusing also on yourself and believing

09:12in your strategy. But again, it was tough because, as I mentioned, City is a really

09:19good team and they just gave us hard work to put into the games and into the pitch.

09:26Michael, please.

09:38I just told my players, you know, when you are able to turn things around in 45 minutes

09:42and able to score three goals, we created a lot of opportunities. The players get excited.

09:49So again, it's important to get the right balance. But my main message was just to adjust

09:55two or three things in tactics, but also to tell them we need to go into the second half

10:00with the same mindset, wanting to score goals and with the high pressure and everything,

10:06because I think sometimes when you stop to play, this is when sometimes it's more difficult

10:12for you to perform. So we wanted to play with the same intentions from the first half going

10:18into the second half. Sometimes it's more difficult because you start to get tired.

10:23But yeah, I think we tried to do that.

10:27Kurt.

10:49That's really important. You know, I think I already mentioned that, but coming into

10:56Chelsea, but in England, I think this league is really, really competitive. And I think

11:02if you don't have depth in your squad, it's almost impossible to achieve your goals because

11:07as you can see, the players are playing a lot of games with the national team, with

11:16the club, and this level of intensity is really high. And I think even when you have

11:23the opportunity to bring fresh legs into these big games, it can make a big impact. So for

11:29me, it's really important. And if you don't get the depth in your squad, it's almost impossible

11:35to perform and to be able to have big goals in all four competitions.

11:42Amy, please.

11:47I think it was important in these games against City and especially against Caroline. I think

12:14against Caroline, to just tell them like, your main job is to defend because sometimes

12:20with these type of players, they have a lot of quality and they want to bring quality

12:26up on the pitch. And when you do that, and you have Caroline who sometimes cheat a little

12:33bit and she doesn't defend, she stays high on the pitch, you get yourself more in trouble.

12:39So I think, yeah, I just told from the game today to Sunday, you just defend. And if at

12:46one point in the game, I feel you need to go higher in the corridor, I will let you

12:51know. But just first of all, you are a defender, so defend and make sure we keep the balance

12:56in the team.

13:00No, it's down to her. Completely down to her. So sometimes, yeah, you need to give

13:06credit to your players, but I think I already said that.

13:11Cool. We'll finish this section with Ishan and then we'll move on to the West Ham preview.

13:15Congratulations on the win. So before today, Chelsea had never won a knockout tie when

13:19they lost the first leg by more than one goal. You mentioned in the past that you don't care

13:25too much about the past, you're focused on the present and what you can build at Chelsea.

13:28With the records that you've broken at Chelsea already this season, is this a new and perhaps

13:33better era for Chelsea women?

13:37I hope it will be. But again, I think I already mentioned the fact from Emma's legacy, she

13:45just left the club in such a great place. It was something really good for me to come

13:50in and to be able to build from that legacy. I think now I'm trying to bring my own personality

14:00into the team. We made a lot of changes this summer with some new players coming into the

14:07team. As a staff also, we made some changes and I think that's a transition, a new era

14:13and hopefully it will be even better. But I think Emma had such a nice success with

14:18the team and for that reason, I already said, but I have so much respect for the work she

14:24has done.

14:26I thought Johanna Ritinkanen had a great game today. She started the season on fire,

14:31absolutely scoring and assisting almost every game. It seems like those goalscoring numbers

14:36have dried up a little bit and no matter how hard she works on the pitch and how well she

14:40plays, it seems like the ball just won't go to the back of the net for her. When you

14:43have a player who's kind of going through a dry spell, how do you help them and what

14:46are the conversations that you have with them?

14:48I'm always trying to bring her confidence because it makes a bigger difference between

14:54a player who is confident on the pitch and a player who loses a little bit of confidence.

14:59But I think Yo-Yo, as you mentioned, worked really hard for the team. She has the right

15:05mentality and sometimes in a career or in a season, you have these moments where you

15:10drop a little bit your statistics. But I think the main thing for me is to keep the same

15:17relationship with her, just showing her my trust and I try to do the same with all my

15:22players. Even the ones sometimes who didn't start today, they will be maybe tomorrow feeling

15:28a little bit down. But I need to show them my consideration because they are good players

15:34and at one point they already brought impact in the team and they will bring in the future

15:39more impact in the team. So I will need everyone to stay focused.

15:42And just last one from me. It ended 3-0, a very dominant performance. It could have been

15:47so much more with your team hitting both posts and the bar as well. At the end of the last

15:51game, you said, everyone's trying to cook me. Would you say that your team cooked Man City today?

15:57I will never say that because I have a lot of respect for the opposition and I think

16:03I just feel like today we did a really great performance. I'm really proud of my players

16:08because they put everything on the pitch. But yeah, always I will give respect to Man City

16:15and to all the other teams because I have already been in that situation before where

16:21I didn't win a game and it feels like we are humans so sometimes it's difficult. I just

16:28want to say I'm really proud of my players. I think they deserve to win because they put

16:34all the elements into the game tonight. But again, it was tough and credit to Man City

16:40and I wish them all the best.

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