Chelsea are in unfamiliar territory. Bompastor’s 28-game unbeaten run as Blues boss came to an abrupt halt in Manchester last week when Vivianne Miedema came off the bench to score twice in 28 minutes and put Man City in command of the tie.
But the Frenchwoman insists her side’s hopes of another European semi-final – likely to be against reigning champions Barcelona – are still alive, urging her players to end this extraordinary run of fixtures with no regrets.
I don’t want my players to have any regrets. This is what we want to go for, she said. The preparation of the game is really important. We have talked about the strategy of the game and it’s really important to have everyone on the same page with that. We feel ready, we need to execute the game plan.
We have all the qualities to turn things around. Ninety minutes is a lot of time for us. We need a strong start. Everyone in the club wants to win this competition, I still feel like we have the capacity and quality to turn things around. I told my players last week ‘we’re still alive’, that’s important.
Last week was not decisive, we need to respond. I focus a lot on my team. Playing Man City three times you can know more, it’s a really rare situation, but even if I know more I still need time to know [everything] about him [Nick Cushing]. I don’t feel any difference preparing this game. We need to believe and be confident. I just want us to attack the game and have no regrets at the end.