Chelsea cruise past Wolfsburg into women's Champions League semis

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:08 am
Pernille Harder celebrates with teammate Sophie Ingle after scoring Chelsea's first goal.
Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

Pernille Harder scored against her former club for the second time in a week as Chelsea secured a 3-0 win over Wolfsburg on Wednesday to complete a 5-1 aggregate victory in their women's Champions League quarterfinal in Budapest.

Despite holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg, Chelsea made a nervy start before two-time winners Wolfsburg conceded a penalty in the 26th minute when Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh brought down Sam Kerr inside the box.

Harder slotted the penalty into the bottom left corner, before the English champions extended their advantage through Kerr shortly after.

The striker took the ball on the turn before finding the bottom corner with a powerful strike past Wolfsburg goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek.

Fran Kirby added gloss to the scoreline with an 81st minute strike as Chelsea booked a place Champions League semi-finals for the third time since making their competition debut in the 2015-16 season.

The result comes as a huge blow for last year's runners-up Wolfsburg, who won each of their four matches in the competition without conceding a goal on their way to the quarterfinals.

Chelsea will next face the winner of the quarterfinal tie between Bayern Munich and FC Rosengard. Bayern hold a 3-0 lead over the Swedish outfit heading into the second leg on Thursday.