Chelsea's Millie Bright and head coach Sonia Bompastor preview Women's champions League first leg at Manchester City

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Chelsea's Millie Bright and head coach Sonia Bompastor preview Women's champions League first leg at Manchester City  18/03/2025  uefa25

Transcript

00:30It's up to you.

00:31Try to beat it.

00:32There you go.

00:33That's it.

00:34One last moment.

00:35That's all right.

00:36Snap.

00:37What's this one?

00:38It's kind of a solution.

00:39Sorry.

00:40What's this one?

00:41I'm going to tell you.

00:42OK.

00:43Maybe let's go fast.

00:44Let's try.

00:45Let's let some adrenaline kick in.

00:46You'll understand.

00:47That's a lot of weight.

00:48Yeah.

00:49OK.

00:50I don't know if it is or not, but it's just...

01:41I don't know.

01:44I don't know.

01:47I don't know.

01:50I don't know.

01:53Right, options, maybe options, what?

02:14Yeah, I don't want to talk so long, I'm sorry.

02:15It's very much, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

02:19Yeah, yeah, yeah.

02:40Do you want to talk a bit about everything?

02:42Yeah, okay.

03:49No, I don't want it.

03:53I'm just going to pass that.

03:56No worries.

04:03Take a question.

04:13Can you hear me now?

04:14I feel fine, yeah.

04:16I'm just going to go to the street in a bit.

04:44It's all right.

04:45Is that all right?

04:46Yeah, absolutely.

04:47Do you know the way back to the entrance?

04:48Yeah, if I go...

04:49Just go.

04:50Go back through that way.

04:51I'll walk you.

04:52It's okay.

04:53I think I can remember.

04:54But you walk through the door and you'll be...

04:56You can go through there.

04:58You sure?

04:59No, no, go through there.

05:00Go left, go left.

05:01Okay.

05:02Yep.

05:46Okay.

05:47Yeah.

05:49You're welcome.

05:50All right.

05:52No worries.

05:53Bye.

05:54Bye.

05:55All right.

05:56Yeah.

05:57Bye.

05:58Bye.

05:59Bye.

06:00Bye.

06:01Bye.

06:02Bye.

06:03That's all right.

06:04Okay.

06:05Bye.

06:06Bye.

06:07Okay.

06:08Bye.

06:09Oh, it's okay.

06:10That's fine.

06:11That's fine.

06:12That's fine.

06:13Oh, it's okay.

09:14Hello everybody, welcome along to Sonia and Millie's press conference to preview Man City

09:30tomorrow in the quarter finals of the UEFA Women's Championship. Absolutely stunning

09:34settings, so thank you Trudy for bringing the sun. Can we start with Anton, is that

09:40alright? Thank you so much. Good evening both, nice to see you. Good evening. Sonia

09:45we'll start with you obviously, second game in a few days, I'm just wondering how the

09:49team is, whether sort of your NBA players back or any players missing this game? Yeah

09:55team news, any injury from the last game we played on Saturday and we have Keira Walsh

10:02who is back with us in the squad. How much have you believed in this competition previously?

10:10Yeah that's a real boost, always positive when you have players who come back in the

10:15squad, gives me even more options into going into the game but also having more options

10:22in the bench, so I think it's really positive news. You talked up to the game on Saturday

10:28and you said how proud you were of your players and what they did sort of physically to see

10:34more control from this game. Yeah we had a really nice review and vote together with

10:41the players and I think we know exactly how we want to attack the game tomorrow. I think

10:48yeah we always try to play the best so tomorrow it will be our mindset to attack the game,

10:55to be able to control probably a little bit more the game. I think the players are confident

11:02going into the game and as I said we reviewed the game, we know what we need to do going

11:10into the game tomorrow and I think yeah it's obvious and clear for us. So now it's just

11:17on the day to be able to be confident to play.

11:22Millie obviously you were just saying Saturday was an epic sort of game for yourselves at

11:27the back but how much do you hope it's going to be a bit quieter tomorrow for yourselves?

11:32Oh we love defending as defenders so yeah not going to shy away from that opportunity

11:36but listen City are a top team and they pose a lot of threat so I think any game against

11:43them you're going to have defensive duties to do but yeah of course we'd like to nullify

11:48as many opportunities on goal for them as possible. I think that's your aim going into

11:52any game against any opponent but like I said we know their threats and we know they can

11:57be lethal at that end of the pitch and yeah hopefully we keep it clean sheet.

12:02You were all delighted to win the first trophy of the season on Saturday. How were the celebrations

12:07and were they stopped at a responsible time?

12:10Yeah there was barely zero celebrations, I wouldn't lie about that situation. Everyone

12:17was tucked in bed by 9.30 so yeah we were all at rest. I was definitely tucked in, I

12:22was flat out but no everyone's sensible, I think we're all very professional and we've

12:27got our eyes set on big targets this year and I think you've got to enjoy those moments

12:33in the best way that you can but ultimately it was about recovering as quick as we could

12:37so that we could get back out on the pitch and prepare for our game tomorrow.

12:40Millie obviously this is Champions League so how desperate are you to go far, go deep

12:45and maybe even win it this season?

12:48Yeah I mean there's no shying away from that, I think we laid out our expectations at the

12:52start of the season. I think winning trophies is not something we shy away from in terms

12:58of saying it out loud, I think that's everybody's aim, I think that'll be City's aim as well

13:03amongst many other teams in the competition so for us it's about game by game and there's

13:08a task to be done tomorrow and first and foremost we take care of that.

13:12Thank you both.

13:16Cheers Phil.

13:19Millie, Nick Cushin spoke about the pain of Saturday as being a motivator for City's

13:26players, how wary are you of you kind of facing essentially a wounded animal I guess in terms

13:33of the game tomorrow?

13:35Yeah I think you're wary of the threats that they can put in front of you but yeah I think

13:42we're very confident within ourselves and what we can bring to the game. I think it's

13:47a different game and like I said we've been in that position where you've lost trophies

13:53and you want to bounce back so I think regardless of that you would always be wary of this team

13:59that you're coming up against. Like I said they're a top team with an abundance of quality

14:05in players so regardless of the final we would have always been wary but we're very confident

14:10within ourselves.

14:12Great, cheers.

14:14Yep.

14:21Hi, Penny Shaw won't be able to play this match and possibly not the next, how much

14:30does it change for Chelsea to defend City without her?

14:35I think the mindset remains the same, like I said they've got other players that can

14:40step into that role and pose different threats. Bonnie's obviously a very powerful, strong

14:46player, I think she brings a different dimension in the nine for them but whoever steps into

14:52that position you know you want to defend in the same manner, physical, keeping away

14:56from goal and yeah so the mindset defensively is the same.

15:01Sonia, I don't know if you ever faced the same opponent four times in a row and how

15:07does these many stories, many episodes could influence each match? I know it's three different

15:14competitions but they all seem too close together.

15:18Yeah from my previous experience I experienced that with PSG, we played them seven times

15:24in one season and I think the most we played them was three times in a week but as Billy

15:31said I think in this situation we attack game by game, I think that's really important so

15:37the one tomorrow is a different competition, there is two legs in that competition and

15:43that's really important to be focused on every game so our focus at the moment is on the

15:48game tomorrow and yeah we know we are going to play them two times again but game by game

15:54and main focus on tomorrow.

15:57Any more for any more in the room?

16:01Ok cool, we'll jump over to Zoom, any questions from the guys joining us? Alright Dan we'll

16:06come to you next, thank you.

16:09Hi Sonia, how are you doing?

16:10Hi Dan, yeah I'm good thank you.

16:12Yeah just in terms of that being kind of you know tomorrow is effectively just the

16:16first half of the tie so you know we saw a very kind of chaotic end to end exciting game

16:22of the weekend, do you feel that it will be the same tomorrow or you know with so much

16:26at stake with it being effectively the first half that it might be a different you know

16:31maybe more cakey game?

16:34I think as I said tomorrow the game will be a different competition, the context will

16:39be different with these two legs but our mindset remains the same, we will take that

16:45game and yeah make sure we put all the elements in the game to yeah have a big chance to win

16:52so as I said like yeah it's two legs but the game tomorrow is really important, we are

16:58playing away but yeah still we keep the same mindset attacking that game.

17:04Just in terms of this kind of block of four really heavy games against Manchester City

17:09you know presumably you'll have to kind of tweak the squad and manage the squad as you

17:13go along so you know what's the kind of challenge for you in terms of balancing the squad and

17:18making sure that you pick effectively you know the correct day for each game?

17:23I'm lucky enough to have a really good squad, a lot of talent and quality, def so that's

17:29really important for me to involve everyone in these four games especially because maybe

17:35at some point we'll need to have some freshness, it will be maybe something really important

17:40so yeah it's really good to have def in the squad, to have the talent, the quality to

17:46be able for me to involve everyone and to give the opportunity to every player to compete

17:50in these games but yeah as you just said my job is to make sure I pick the right starting

17:56eleven in every game but also as you could see on the game on Saturday having players

18:02in the bench who can finish the game, bring energy into the game and just help us to perform

18:09it's really important so for me it's more like a team performance but not only the eleven

18:14who will start but also the ones who will be in the bench and bringing the right mindset

18:18and energy into the game.

18:27Hi Sonia, I hope you're ok?

18:30Hi Annie, yeah I'm good.

18:31Just a quick one on Myra Meares if that's ok, she showed a real quality on Saturday

18:37with that first goal, she had another massive chance that she probably should have scored,

18:42she said that herself, I just wonder if you can tell us a bit about her as a player, what

18:46you think of her and how important do you think she's going to be here in this fifth

18:49of the four trophies this season?

18:52Yeah, as I said really lucky as a manager to have a lot of talent in my squad, Myra

18:57is one of them, top class player, she's so strong and powerful up front, she makes a

19:03lot of trouble to the back line in every team we play against and I think that's a big strength

19:11for us, so yeah really pleased to have her in the squad, as you could see on Saturday

19:24she had a really good performance, good game and we are really pleased to have these talented

19:30players in the squad but she's not the only one.

19:34Thank you, just one familiar as well if that's ok, we've spoken a lot about these four games

19:41in a row but just on the Champions League itself, do these games in the mid-week under

19:46the lights, do they have a bit of a different feel for them for you as players, do they

19:49have a bit of a different edge for them?

19:51I think everyone gets excited to play in any game, especially when we're competing for

19:57trophies, that's why we all play for top team and I think that's what excites me being

20:03a part of Chelsea as a club but yeah I think when you're playing a Champions League game

20:08it's that special competition but like I said any game that we play in that's the mentality,

20:13it's to win, it's to be the best and it's all about getting to that end goal so I think

20:18with us this year our mentality has tightened up a little bit if I'm being honest and I

20:22didn't think it could go to the next level but it has done but yeah the Champions League

20:26is special, it's the one everyone wants to play in.

20:31Thanks both for the look.

20:33Unless there's a question from Catherine I think we'll leave it there.

20:38Speak now Catherine or we're going to call it.

20:40Never, never hold your peace.

20:42She's not coming off mute, okay we're going to leave it there, thank you very very much.

20:47Have a nice evening everyone.

20:48Bye.

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