AAP Soccer

Carpenter's Chelsea advance in Women's Champions League

By AAP Newswire

Sep 3, 2026

Matildas star Ellie Carpenter has helped Chelsea qualify for the Women's Champions League. -AAP Image

Sonia Bompastor has expressed her delight as Chelsea secured Champions League qualification with victory over Real Sociedad.

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The Blues booked their place in the league phase with a 1-0 win over Sociedad in the second leg of their third-round qualifier in Spain, where Keira Walsh scored the only goal of the game in the second half.

Victory completed a 6-2 aggregate triumph to reach the draw for the league phase, which takes place on Friday, and Bompastor was pleased to see her side secure qualification.

"I'm pleased with the result. We kept a clean sheet, which is always important, and when you do that, you always have a bigger chance to win games," she said in quotes reported on the Chelsea website.

"I'm glad we could rotate the team with the starting 11, but also the players who came in.

"I think today we gave some really good opportunities to the young players to come and experience a Champions League game, so when you have the opportunity to do that, I think it's always something really positive.

"I'm happy and really excited now to be in the Champions League this season. The goal was for us to qualify, which is what we have done."

Bompastor gave some of the younger faces a chance, but among the senior players included was Australian star Ellie Carpenter.

The Matildas right back was her usual busy self making her trademark barnstorming runs down the flank to boost Chelsea's attack.

Chelsea will now turn their attention to Saturday's Women's Super League clash against Aston Villa.

"People will probably think when you are Chelsea, it's easy to do, but we played against a really strong team in Real Sociedad," Bompastor added.

"Over the two legs, they showed some really good quality, and I think these two games are a really good preparation for us to come into the season in the league."

Chelsea will be joined in the competition's main draw by Internazionale, Paris St Germain, Servette Chenois, Koge, OH Leuven, Real Madrid and Juventus after Wednesday's third-qualifying round.

Carpenter will be joined in the Champions League by fellow Matildas Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Caitlin Foord (Arsenal), Teagan Micah (Olympique Lyon) and Winonah Heatley (AS Roma).

with AAP