After being pushed all the way by Wolfsburg and Juventus in our previous two group games, this was a dominant victory for the Blues as we thrashed a side who had shipped three and five goals in their opening fixtures.

We were 5-0 up inside 25 minutes, the first of which was a fierce effort by Melanie Leupolz after she was picked out inside the box by Millie Bright.

Three goals came in as many minutes past the 15-minute mark, putting the game out of Servette’s reach and sending us towards the biggest victory recorded in the first-ever group stage of the Champions League.

Fran Kirby finished smartly from a cheeky ball around the corner by Sam Kerr, and the Australian then netted a quick-fire double, tapping in a Leupolz pass for her first and prodding home after being played in by Kirby.

Our No14 soon completed a brace of her own, as she was left with a simple finish at the back stick, and by half-time our lead was six when Jessie Fleming became the latest to add her name to the scoresheet with a powerful strike.

To their credit, Servette showed greater resilience after the break, but only once Guro Reiten had made it 7-0 with another tap-in at the far post. The Swiss club’s supporters never gave up on their team, as they continued to enthusiastically cheer their charges on despite the one-sided nature of the contest.

A brilliant Chelsea performance was capped late on by the return of Maren Mjelde, who was back on the pitch for the first time since mid-March, when she suffered a serious knee injury in the Continental League Cup final.

All in all, it was a near-perfect night. We now move on to seven points at the halfway stage of our Group A campaign, with Servette returning to Kingsmeadow next Thursday for matchweek four.

Changes were made for our first-ever game in Switzerland, with seven players switched from the side that narrowly won at Aston Villa on Sunday. Zecira Musovic, Jess Carter, Reiten, Leupolz, Drew Spence, Kirby and Kerr came in to replace Ann-Katrin Berger, Aniek Nouwen, Niamh Charles, Sophie Ingle, Ji So-Yun, Jonna Andersson and Bethany England.

The team lined up in the usual 3-4-3 system we’ve seen this term, with Musovic’s goal protected by a back three of Bright, Carter and Magdalena Eriksson. In midfield, Erin Cuthbert and Reiten provided the width either side of Spence and Leupolz, while Fleming, Kerr and Kirby were selected as the front three.

We took to the field wearing our yellow change strip for the second game in a row, as the home crowd of more than 12,000 fans waved their scarves and chanted in support. They were nearly silenced inside two minutes, though, as Kirby was somehow denied the opening goal. Her first shot was brilliantly saved by Pereira, but the ball came straight back to her and she leaned back a little too much to send a side-footed finish against the crossbar.

It proved to be a short-lived reprieve, with the opener arriving after eight minutes, almost out of nothing. There looked to be little on when Bright brought the ball forward, but she clipped a pass that Leupolz took in the inside-right channel, sidestepping her marker with the first touch and then cracking a left-footed strike that flew past the keeper and into the far corner.

It should have come as little surprise to the Swiss side; we’ve now scored first in 10 of our past 12 Women’s Champions League games – and we wasted little time pressing home our advantage, with a flurry of goals arriving before the 25th minute.

In fact, three came in as many minutes after the quarter-of-an-hour mark, the first of which set right the earlier miss by Kirby. Our No14 went in on goal after a lovely flick around the corner by Kerr and this time she made no mistake, burying her finish past Pereira to open her account in the Champions League this term.

The Australian was immediately repaid for her wonderful assist, as she added her name to the scoresheet with the simplest of goals. The build-up play was magnificent, with Fleming playing the ball out to Reiten on the left and her cross to the back stick was brought down by Leupolz and squared to Kerr for a tap-in.

Things went from bad to worse for Servette, as a third goal in 180 seconds arrived. Once again it was Kerr who found the back of the net, although this time Kirby was the provider. She picked out the run of her strike partner with a lofted through-ball and Kerr did the rest, prodding the ball past Pereira with her left foot.

Kerr very nearly completed a hat-trick that would surely have ranked as one of the quickest of all time at any level of football, with a strike from a tight angle that whizzed just off target. What a story that would have been.

However, we didn’t have to wait long for the fifth. Fleming was given far too much time and space down the left-hand side, with the Servette defence nowhere to be seen, and she played the ball across to Kirby, who took one touch to set herself and another to finish.

The Blues didn’t take our foot off the gas and it was only a combination of good goalkeeping and wasteful finishing that prevented us further extending our lead. That is, until Fleming deservedly got her name on the scoresheet seven minutes before the break. It was all too easy, as the Canadian made the most of the same wide-open channels that were available all half, and though her near-post strike had plenty of mustard on, the keeper dived the wrong way trying to anticipate a shot across goal.

Before the game, Hayes had told her players to be more ruthless after scoring the first goal, to be relentless in the pursuit of more. Those words were certainly heeded and then some. Our six goals in the first half meant we became the first team to score that many in a Champions League group game – there was 45 minutes to add more.

Unsurprisingly, Servette made a change at the break, replacing Fleury at left-back with Maendly, while the same Blues XI took to the field for the second half. Within two minutes of the restart it should have been seven, but Kerr couldn’t make the most of Cuthbert’s precise through-ball, as she lofted her finish over the keeper but just wide of the far post.

Kerr had another chance at her hat-trick a couple of minutes later when she was played in by Spence, but instead of going for goal she sent a low cross to the back stick for Reiten to fire home, making the Norwegian our fifth different scorer on the night.

That was her last contribution of the evening, as she was one of three players to be substituted just before the hour mark. Eriksson and Cuthbert also made way, with Andersson, Charles and Jorja Fox entering the fray.

We could have had another, only for the woodwork to keep out Spence’s powerful strike, and then came the moment every Blues fan has waited for since mid-March. For the first time since suffering a serious knee injury in the Continental League Cup final, Mjelde was back on the pitch – you could see just how much it meant to her team-mates by the delighted reaction of Carter, who made way for the Norwegian. England also came on, in place of Kerr.

By this point, however, the game had become little more than a training exercise, as we kept Servette at arm’s length and saw out a third clean sheet in a row since returning from the international break – although with better decision-making in the final third we could perhaps have managed to reach double figures.

The two sides will do it all again next Thursday at Kingsmeadow, a game for which tickets are still available. Click here to buy yours now. Before that, however, we’re back in WSL action with the small matter of a trip to Manchester City. That one takes place on Sunday at 3pm, live on Sky Sports for those of you who don’t make the trip to the North-West.

Servette (4-2-3-1) Pereira; Soulard, Spalti, Hurni, Fleury (Maendly h/t); Lagonia (c) (Guede Redondo 71), Tufo; Tamplin, Nakkach (Bourma 71), Padilla-Bidas; Boho Saya (Grivaz 89)Unused subs Droz, Felber

Chelsea (3-4-3) Musovic; Bright, Carter (Mjelde 66), Eriksson (c) (Andersson 57); Cuthbert (Charles 57), Spence, Leupolz, Reiten (Fox 57); Kirby, Kerr (England 66), FlemingUnused subs Telford, Berger, Ingle, Ji, JamesScorers Leupolz 8, Kirby 16, 26, Kerr 18, 19, Fleming 38, Reiten 50

Referee Iuliana Demetrescu (Romania)

Crowd 12,782