Wieke Kaptein’s early goal gave Chelsea a winning start to their Women’s Champions League campaign against Austria Vienna, but it was a far from comfortable evening for the Blues at the Cherry Red Records stadium.
The scale of the mismatch was spelled out before kick-off. The Austrian broadcaster ORF reported that Chelsea Women’s personnel costs alone for the 2024/25 season, at €17m, were higher than those of the entire Austria Vienna club, which stood at €14.9m including the men’s department. Uefa also noted that the visiting manager, Stefan Kenesei, holds a full-time job in state pensions insurance.
Even so, Sonia Bompastor was not minded to take risks, with a large league fixture against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge to come on Sunday. She made only three changes to the side that had won 2-0 against Birmingham on Saturday, with Hannah Hampton, Lucy Bronze and Lexi Potter making way for Livia Peng, Katie McCabe and Melvine Malard.
It took a moment of individual quality to break the deadlock. Eleven minutes in, the 21-year-old Dutch midfielder Kaptein was quickest to a loose ball after Katharina Schiechtl’s slick sliding tackle dispossessed Malard, and she sent a rising strike in off the underside of the bar from 25 yards out.
Austria Vienna were unperturbed. They immediately went in search of a reply, forcing a corner that came to nothing, and went closer twice before the interval. Modesta Uka drew a save from Peng, with Virginia Kirchberger firing the parried ball over the bar, before Louise Schöffel made an artful run into the middle and put her effort narrowly wide.
A small block of travelling supporters made themselves heard throughout, drowning out the home crowd for long spells, and Uka was their brightest outlet. Her close control offered a genuine attacking threat and gave her teammates respite from chasing, while set pieces repeatedly produced scrappy moments in the Chelsea box. The longer Bompastor’s side went without building on their lead, the more confident the players in white became.
Chelsea came close to a second on the break after two Austria Vienna corners in quick succession, Kaptein meeting Ellie Carpenter’s pull-back and forcing a save from Jasmin Pal. Again the visitors responded, with Uka testing Peng once more. Just shy of the 70-minute mark came another tense moment when pressure from Uka forced Veerle Buurman into an error and McCabe appeared to have clipped the Austria Vienna player, who seemed to have beaten her to the ball. A pause after the ball went out of play did not bring an intervention from the video assistant referee.
There were further chances at either end, but Chelsea clung on. Frustrations boiled over late on when Almedina Sisic re-entered the field without waiting a minute after receiving treatment, and Bompastor had to hold back her enraged assistant Camille Abily before making her own feelings clear to the fourth official.
That the visitors will leave London extremely disappointed not to have taken anything is a testament to their performance, having carved out opportunity after opportunity. Chelsea can breathe easy with the win, but they will need to snuff out such chances before they meet a side capable of capitalising on them.