Key events
Nick Cushing: “It is tough,” says Manchester City’s interim manager in an interview with the BBC. “These finals always swing on moments. The moment fell to Chelsea. I’ve seen enough. I have the belief that this team can win. The immediate emotion of losing a final is incredible disappointment. What I see in the players’ eyes is an incredible hunger and belief that they can win.”
Cushing also reveals that Bunny Shaw was withdrawn with a hamstring niggle. “She is a really important player for us so hopefully she is ready for Wednesday but if not we will find a solution,” he says.
Erin Cuthbert: “I’ve missed it, I’ve honestly missed it,” says Chelsea’s Scottish midfielder upon being asked about winning the League Cup for the first time in four years. “I think for me, I just want to try and win every trophy available. It has hurt that we haven’t won that. In previous years, we have just wanted to use that as a motivation to go into the next and use it as a catalyst going into the next. We haven’t been able to do that in previous years. I hope this can be the catalyst for something great for Chelsea.”
Lucy Bronze: “We have a nice spa/recovery day tomorrow and then we have to play them again on Wednesday and then again and again,” says the Chelsea right-back. “As much as we want to enjoy the win, we have to be a bit smart about it. The start of the season was really good and I think we’ve had a couple of bumpy patches recently but the silverware is the thing that matters the most at the end of the day. It was important that we got off to a good start today, getting one trophy in the bank, at least.”
Sonia Bompastor: Asked if she’ll let her players celebrate tonight, the Chelsea manager says they can do what they like as long as they are home by 9pm and tucked up in bed by 9.30pm. “They know the rules,” she says, with a smile.
Sonia Bompastor: “Really happy, for sure,” says the winning head coach in an interview with the BBC. “You know, when you get to a final … to win the game today was not easy but I’m really happy with it. First trophy in the season is always important.”
On the pressure she felt going into today’s final: “I just told my girls it’s very important we are able to turn words into action. I think we work so hard every day from the beginning of the season that today was a huge opportunity for us to perform and to win a title. They are really happy with that and I think it’s well deserved for all the work we have been doing.”
Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City
Match report: Sonia Bompastor won her first trophy in English football and continued her unbeaten first season as Chelsea manager as her side triumphed over Manchester City in a well-contested Women’s League Cup final. Tom Garry reports from Pride Park …
The presentation: Manchester City’s players, including a tearful Yui Hasegawa who inadvertently scored Chelsea’s winner, collect their runners-up medals and are followed to the presentation podium by the players of Chelsea.
Millie Bright is last in the queue and is handed the trophy, which she hoists skywards as the confetti cannons do their thing. Standing to one side, Sonia Bompastor applauds her jubilant players.
Millie Bright: “We’re just buzzing,” says Chelsea’s captain upon being asked what it’s like to win this competition for the first time in four years in an interview with the BBC. “It’s been doing my head in for a long time and I think we’re really happy. It’s the start that we wanted going into these four fixtures [against City] but most importantly, it’s all about winning and that’s what we did.
“It was always going to be a tight game. They had chances, we had chances but I think it’s just that mentality. We defended really, really well, front to back and we should have put a couple of more chances away to be honest, especially in the first half. Honestly, it’s just that mentality to never give in and I think that’s something Chelsea have had in their DNA for a long time. We alway find a way and whether it’s a good day or a bad day, we always come out on top.”
She goes on to say she won’t be celebrating, but going home to bed before tomorrow’s recovery day ahead of the second of their four matches in a row against City. They travel to the Etihad Campus for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.
Full time: Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City
A quick recap: Chelsea took the lead early doors courtesy of a somewhat fortuitous opener from Mayra Ramirez, who took advantage of a lucky ricochet that fell her way to walk the ball into the net. Aoba Fujina equalised for City with a fine strike but Chelsea got lucky again when Yui Hasegawa got herself in a bit of a dither and hacked a Mayra Ramirez cross into her own net when she had time to control the ball and clear.
Full time: Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City
Chelsea are League Cup Champions. The final whistle is blown at Pride Park, where Chelsea have prevailed, but only just. They win the Subway Cup for the first time and Sonia Bompastor has secured her first trophy as their manager.
90+3 min: Chelsea have a throw-in deep in City territory but cede possession. It’s a goal-kick for City, for whom the jig is almost up.
90+2 min: Sjoeke Nusken plays a ball over the top for Erin Cuthbert, who is unable to get a shot away.
90 min: Erin Cuthbert loses the ball as we go into three minutes of added time. Chelsea recover and get the ball back to Hannah Hampton, who is no rush to kick it out.
88 min: With time running out, City advance with Kerolin on the ball. Hasagawa sends the ball into the box but it’s headed clear. Moments later, Jill Roord tries a low shot from distance but it’s straight at Hannah Hampton.
87 min: Chelsea substitution: Niamh Charles comes on for Sandy Baltimore, who has put in a decent shift in her team’s defence.
84 min: Kerstin Kasperij goes down in the Chelsea penalty area, coming out second best from a fifty-fifty challenge with Bright. The City right-back doesn’t really appeal for a penalty but VAR have a look anyway. Bright did nothing wrong.
83 min: City win themselves a corner. The delivery is poor and Millie Bright heads the inswinger clear at the near post.
80 min: Manchester City double substitution: Jess Park and Kerolin on for Aoba Fujino and Bunny Shaw.
79 min: Aggie Beever-Jones receives a pass in the City penalty area but shoots well wide from a tight angle after bringing the ball under control.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Man City (Hasegawa 77og)
Chelsea lead again! Aggie Beever-Jones slips the ball out wide to Mayra Ramirez on the right. She advances and sends a cross into the City penalty area. The ball bounces in front of Yui Hasegawa, who panics and slices it into her own net when she actually had time to take a touch and boot it clear.
75 min: Chelsea double-substitution: Maika Hamano and Aggie Beever-Jones on for Catarina Macario and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd.
73 min: Mayra Ramirez wins a corner for Chelsea off Yui Hasegawa. Sandy Baltimore’s delivery is a good one narrowly evades the head of Sjoeke Nusken and the ball is cleared.
71 min: With her back to goal, Bunny Shaw tries an ambitious volley after teeing herself up with her first touch but sends her effort high and wide. City tails are well and truly up in the wake of their equaliser.
68 min: Chelsea have a minor scare when it looks like Sandy Baltimore might have fouled Bunny Shaw in their penalty area but the VAR check goes in favour of the Chelsea defender. Moments later, Lucy Bronze gives the ball away cheaply just outside her own penalty area but Hannah Hampton is quick off her line to deny Bunny Shaw when the City striker found herself clean through on goal.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Manchester City (Fujino 64)
City are level! Aoba Fujino advances through the middle, driving at the Chelsea defence. Taking the ball past Sandy Baltimore, she fires a shot past Hannah Hampton and into the back of the net. The Chelsea goalkeeper looks like she might have done better but she insists Millie Bright should have headed the ball clear.
62 min: A Johanna Rytting Kaneryd pull-back from the byline is cleared by City’s defence. Chelsea are dominating this second half having been on the back foot for most of the first half.
60 min: Erin Cuthbert threads a delightfully weighted through ball into the path of Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, whose shot from eight yards out is well saved by Ayaka Yamashita in the City goal.
59 min: Chelsea corner. Catarina Macario’s inswinger is flicked on by City’s Aoba Fujina and Bunny Shaw bangs heads with her marker as she tries to clear the ball.
57 min: Bunny Shaw is booked for a late challenge on Erin Cuthbert, catching the Chelsea midfielder on the instep of her standing foot. The Jamaica international’s insistence that she got the ball is fanciful in the extreme.
56 min: Bunny Shaw spots Hannah Hampton a few yards off her line and tries an audacious first-time shot from the right side of the Chelsea penalty area. It’s high and wide.
55 min: With a couple of teammates queuing up at the far post, Aoba Fujino scoops a weak cross from the right side of penalty area straight into the gloves of Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton.
53 min: City advance but a ball played up the left wing for Shaw to chase is overhit by Leila Ouahabi. Goal-kick for Chelsea.
50 min: Lucy Bronze is correctly booked for simulation after going to ground in the City penalty area, expecting a challenge that never came from Laia Aleixandri. She protests her innocence in the strongest possible terms but it’s a fair cop – good refereeing by Emily Heaslip.
49 min: Mayra Ramirez tries her luck with a shot from the edge of the City penalty area after good work by Macario. It’s blocked.
47 min: Lauren James swings a decent cross into the City penalty area from the left but it’s a mite too far ahead of Mayra Ramirez, who makes a forlorn attempt to head the ball goalwards nonetheless.
Second half: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester City
46 min: Play resumes with no changes in personnel on either side. Some admin: Manchester City midfielder Vivianne Miedema is on a yellow card for some first-half indiscretion or other and judging by her apparently thunderous mood and sense of indignation, it would come as no great surprise to see her get another one.
Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester City
The teams leave the pitch with Manchester City dominating on the pitch but behind on the scoreboard. Mayra Ramirez was somewhat lucky to open the scoring, taking advantage of a lucky bounce after messing up a one-on-one with City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita.
The Chelsea striker passed up as glorious opportunity to double her side’s lead but despite Chelsea being in front, their manager Sonia Bompastor is almost certain to be the more displeased of both managers. City have been the better of the two sides but need more clinical finishing.
45+4 min: Chelsea midfielder Sjoeke Nusken is penalised for a tug on the shirt of Fujino but avoids a yellow card. City have a free-kick in a good position but despite Chelsea making a complete mess of trying to clear Fujiino’s delivery from the right, have to settle for a corner from which nothing comes. It’s half-time.
45+2 min: Another vaguely promising City attack breaks down when the referee’s assistant raises his flag for offside. We’re halfway through four minutes of added time.
45 min: Mayra Ramirez controls another long ball from deep but on this occasion is shepherded away from goal by Gracie Prior, who spares her goalkeeper the stress of having to deal with another one-on-one with the Chelsea striker.
44 min: We approach half-time with Chelsea a goal to the good despite being second best in almost every department. Truth be told, they should be two goals ahead, which would be a total travesty considering how well Manchester CIty have played in this first half.
40 min: Play resumes with Cuthbert fit to continue. City attack again with Kasagawa trying to pick out Bunny Shaw at the far post following excellent work by Aoba Fujino. From a standing start, Lucy Bronze out-jumps the City striker to win the ball and avert the danger.
37 min: An Aoba Fujino cross into the box is caught by Hannah Hampton and there’s a break in play so Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert can get treatment after banging her head on the turf after a bad landing in the wake of an aerial challenge.
35 min: Millie Bright is quite correctly penalised for a foul on Bunny Shaw as their intriguing battle continues. The Chelsea skipper cheekily accuses the Cheslea striker of diving but she can have no complaints. Nothing comes of the free-kick and Chelsea break upfield.
33 min: City have a free-kick in a good position but Mary Fowler’s delivery into the Chelsea box is punched clear by Hannah Hampton, who takes out her teammate Nathalie Bjorn along with the ball. City recycle it and a slip by Millie Bright gives Bunny Shaw a shooting opportunity from 15 yards. Sandy Baltimore spots the danger and throws herself in front of the ball to block.
31 min: That’s twice now that Mayra Ramirez hasd found herself in a one-on-one with City’s goalkeeper and she’s made a bit of a dog’s breakfast of both her efforts to beat Ayaka Yamashita. She did, however, benefit from a lucky ricochet on the first occasion to give Chelsea their slender lead.
27 min: It’s a huge let-off for Manchester City, as Chelsea’s Mayra Ramirez takes advantage of a Laia Aleixandri slip to sprint in behind their defence in a one-on-one with Ayaka Yamashita. She takes the ball around the City goalkeeper but with defenders rushing back to provide cover can only shoot into the side-netting. She should have done a lot better.
26 min: Meidema plays the ball out wide to Kerstin Caspiraj, who is unable to get a cross in and forced backwards by Chelsea left-back Sandy Baltimore. City regroup and Leila Ouahabi gets a cross into the Chelsea penalty area, where Baltimore clears.
23 min: Roord and Macario combine down the middle for Chelsea, with the latter playing the ball out left into the path of Lauren James. Her shot from a narrowish angle is straight at City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita, who makes her first save of the match.