Chelsea have failed to meet expectations, says Bompastor after Champions League exit

Sonia Bompastor itted Chelsea had fallen short of her own expectations after their Women’s Champions League exit against Barcelona, describing her debut season as “good, but not perfect”.

A pair of 4-1 defeats to the reigning European champions – the second at Stamford Bridge on Sunday – saw Chelsea’s continental campaign halted at the semi-final stage.

Aitana Bonmati, Ewa Pajor, Claudia Pina and Salma Paralluelo were all on target as Barca cruised into a 4-0 lead in London, before Wieke Kaptein netted a late consolation.

Chelsea have now lost to the Blaugrana at the semi-final stage of the Champions League in three successive seasons, also losing 4-0 to them in the 2021 final under Emma Hayes.

While their wait for European glory goes on, Chelsea are on for a domestic treble in Bompastor’s first season at the helm.

They won the League Cup last month and will face Manchester United in the FA Cup final on May 18, and they could also clinch a sixth consecutive Women’s Super League title with two games to spare on Wednesday, needing to better Arsenal’s result at Aston Villa when they travel to United.

But Bompastor, who was a European champion twice in her playing career and coached Lyon to victory over Barca in the 2022 Champions League final, wanted more.

Asked if she had failed to achieve her targets for the season, Bompastor said: “Yeah. I’m not going to shy away from the ambitions of the club.

“It’s really easy for some managers not to assume the ambitions. I want to assume them because I’m really competitive.

“This club has everything to perform and to be able to make the quadruple. It didn’t happen this year, we are all sad and frustrated about it, but we now need to reflect on how we can make it possible.

“Coming to Chelsea as a competitive person, I want to make sure we fight for every trophy possible.

“Domestically, we still have the opportunity to win two more trophies. I hope we will win the last two trophies, the league and the FA Cup. For a first season, it would be a good season, not the perfect and ideal one that I was coming for.”

The former midfielder said Barcelona’s own rise to the top of the women’s game since losing the 2022 final should serve as an inspiration for the Blues.

“As a club and as a manager, I want to make sure we reflect on these two games. These two games are two big learnings for us,” Bompastor added.

“If we want to move forward, we need to reflect on what we need to be a better team and perform against the best teams in Europe, which Barcelona are. But every club has that reflection.

“I when Barcelona lost the Champions League final in 2022 against Lyon, they had this big reflection on how they moved forward to be a better team.

“We will have that time with the club, the ownership, the sporting directors and myself to improve in the right direction, to make sure we compete against Barcelona and other teams.”