Bompastor's Chelsea begin WSL title defence with win over Villa

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Kaneryd's stunning strike proves enough for Chelsea

Johanna Kaneryd's excellent first half goal earns Chelsea a 1-0 win over Aston Villa in the WSL.

Updated: Sep 21, 2024, 12:44 am

Reigning Women's Super League champions Chelsea got their campaign off to a winning start, beating Aston Villa 1-0 at home as a goal from Johanna Rytting Kaneryd gave new coach Sonia Bompastor all three points in her first league game in charge.

The 44-year-old Frenchwoman left Lyon in the summer to take over the reins from new U.S. women's national team head coach Emma Hayes.

"It was really good to be at home and to feel the fans close to the team," Hayes said at her post-match news conference. "It was a really special night, especially with all the flags I just saw with my face on! It was lovely. I felt a warm welcome and I will do my best to make the fans happy."

Bompastor saw her team start brightly with winger Guro Reiten firing two efforts just wide, but Villa had a few chances of their own in an even first half.

Sweden's Rytting Kaneryd fired Chelsea into the lead in the 37th minute, scything from left to right across the box before pulling the ball back onto her left foot and curling the ball into the top-left corner for an exquisite finish.

Johanna Rytting Kaneryd scored the opening goal of the Women's Super League season.
John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images

Villa's Rachel Daly almost pulled her side level early in the second half, but her looping header from just inside the penalty area bounced off the top of the crossbar and away to safety.

The visitors looked much more robust than the side that finished seventh in the 12-team league last season, but they struggled at times with Chelsea's press, often giving the ball away in their own half.

Villa exerted plenty of pressure late on and Daly again went close with a header from a corner, but Chelsea keeper Hannah Hampton pulled off a brilliant save and followed it up shortly afterwards with another stop from fellow keeper Sabrina D'Angelo to secure the victory. 

"It's always important to start with the win. I hoped maybe we could score more goals and be more relieved. But everyone told me 'welcome to the league' and this is why I came," Bompastor told the BBC.

"The result is always important. I want to see my team play a good style of football. It's never easy, but I want players to enjoy it on the pitch and make fans happy," she added. "If you want to enjoy you have to be good technically and score a lot of goals. I just want my players to be together and trying to score some goals."