Kaptein wonder strike papers over cracks as Chelsea survive Austria Vienna scare in Champions League opener
Wieke Kaptein's moment of magic gave Chelsea a winning start to their Women's Champions League campaign, but it was a far from comfortable evening for the Blues as tournament debutants Austria Vienna came within inches of an famous point at the Cherry Red Records stadium.
The 21-year-old Dutch midfielder put Chelsea ahead after just 11 minutes in spectacular fashion. Katharina Schiechtl's sliding tackle on Melvine Malard sent the ball loose, and Kaptein was quickest to react, taking a touch before sending a rising strike in off the underside of the bar from 25 yards out.
Yet the lead never felt secure, and the evening's scale of David-v-Goliath endeavour made the narrowness all the more striking. Austrian broadcaster ORF highlighted before kick-off that "Chelsea Women's personnel costs alone for the 2024/25 season, at a cool €17m, were higher than those of the entire Austria club (€14.9m) – including the men's department, by far the largest item." UEFA, meanwhile, noted that Austria Vienna manager Stefan Kenesei works a full-time job in state pensions insurance alongside his coaching duties.
Minnows make their mark
Manager Sonia Bompastor was understandably cautious ahead of Sunday's huge Women's Super League clash against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, making only three changes from the side that beat Birmingham City 2-0 on Saturday — Livia Peng, Katie McCabe and Melvine Malard coming in for Hannah Hampton, Lucy Bronze and Lexi Potter. And the Danish side HB Køge's scare against Arsenal on Tuesday night served as a reminder that Champions League minnows can cause big problems for the favourites.
Austria Vienna, the fourth Austrian side to compete in the competition after Neulengbach, St. Pölten and Sturm Graz, announced themselves in some style. Modesta Uka forced a save from Peng before Virginia Kirchberger fired the parried ball over the bar, and Louise Schöffel went on an artful run into the middle before placing the ball narrowly wide.
The small block of travelling fans appreciated their underdogs' efforts, drowning out the home crowd for much of the match. Uka was their brightest outlet, her close control providing both an attacking threat and a reprieve for her teammates from chasing. Set pieces also caused some scrappy moments in the Chelsea box.
Chelsea did go close to a second on the break, with Kaptein meeting Ellie Carpenter's pull-back and forcing a save from Jasmin Pal, and Alyssa Thompson drilled a shot just wide of the left post after a driving run down the right following an early injury substitution for Keira Walsh.
Chelsea ride their luck
The longer it went without Bompastor's side building on their lead, the more confident the visitors in white became. Uka's shot on the swivel was repelled by Peng, who then thwarted Valentina Pötzl after Veerle Buurman had played herself into trouble. Just shy of the 70-minute mark, pressure from the ever-bright Uka forced Buurman into another error and McCabe appeared to clip the Austria Vienna player, who seemed to have beaten her to the ball — but a pause after the ball went out of play brought no intervention from the video assistant referee.
Uka came closest of all, chopping inside before curling her attempt onto the post, and finished with team-high totals for shots (five), touches in the opposition box (seven), crosses (six) and attempted dribbles (three). Overall, Chelsea finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.43 from 13 attempts, compared to Wien's 0.87 from two more shots at Peng's net.
Frustrations boiled over at the close, when Almedina Sisic re-entered the field without waiting a minute after receiving treatment, with Bompastor forced to hold back her enraged assistant Camille Abily before giving the fourth official a piece of her own mind.
In the end, it is a testament to the visiting team that they left London extremely disappointed not to have taken anything from a game that gave them opportunity after opportunity to do so. Chelsea can breathe easy, but have work to do to snuff out those chances before Sunday's meeting with a side that will punish them.
Elsewhere in Europe
There was no such trouble for last year's runners-up Lyon, who thumped Servette 8-0 at Stade de Genève, with Marie-Antoinette Katoto scoring a hat-trick. Defending champions Barcelona also got their campaign up and running, coming from a goal down to beat Paris FC 5-2, with Caroline Graham Hansen and Ewa Pajor starring in the turnaround. Roma, meanwhile, played out a 0-0 draw with OH Leuven.