Chelsea Women captain Magdalena Eriksson insists she and her Blues team-mates only have victory on their mind as they conclude the Women’s Champions League group stage against Paris Saint-Germain at Stamford Bridge in the team’s final match of 2022.
The Blues take on their French opposition at the Bridge on Thursday evening, with kick-off at 8pm, in fine form. We remain undefeated in this season’s Champions League and haven’t lost in any competition since the opening day of 2022/23, winning all but one of those 14 matches, and tickets are still available priced at just £9 for adults and £1 for concessions to see Emma Hayes’ side try to continue that run against PSG.
That impressive form means we are already assured of our place in the knockout rounds of the Champions League, with progress secured in last week’s 4-0 win away at Vllaznia. PSG are also guaranteed to make the quarter-finals, but it is Chelsea who will top the group as long as we avoid defeat by more than one goal, following our 1-0 victory in the corresponding fixture in Paris.
However, there seems little chance of Eriksson and the Blues succumbing to the temptation of playing safe, despite a draw being enough for first place.
‘That hadn’t even crossed my mind,’ said the Swedish defender. ‘We’re really happy and pleased that we have qualified already from this tough group, but we’re winners and we go into every single game we play with the objective to win.
‘It’s a great test for us to see where we’re at against another top team in Europe and we’re going to go all in and hopefully get a win before we go on our Christmas break.’
There is also a matter of pride at stake for Chelsea, as we look to erase the pain of last season’s elimination in the Champions League group stage. Although our form has been impressive, that European disappointment and our 2-1 loss at Liverpool in our first Women’s Super League fixture of the current campaign have taught Eriksson to guard against complacency.
Having already reacted so well to that defeat to the Reds, our skipper is eager for another display of redemption in topping our Champions League group by beating last season’s semi-finalists Paris Saint-Germain a second time.
‘I think what’s great with us is we’re human, we can have bad performances, but we always make sure we don’t make it a habit. Since my time at Chelsea that has always been the case. We’ve always bounced back from a single bad incident or a single bad performance, I think that’s why we have been so successful.
‘I’m really proud of our reaction to that first loss against Liverpool away, and also how we’ve handled this group. We got another tough draw this season and I think we really embraced it. We were really excited about getting a better outcome of the group stage than we did last year, and we have. Now we just want to finish the year on a high.
‘I’m the type of person, if we don’t get a good result tomorrow I’m going to be annoyed for the whole Christmas break. I know that the game is my first priority and then if we get a good result then I’m going to enjoy it. I think I’ve got better at allowing myself to switch off, but if we don’t get the result that I want tomorrow, of course I’m going to be thinking about that game on Christmas.’
The Blues are looking forward to facing Paris Saint-Germain in front of a packed Stamford Bridge, with high hopes for a record attendance for a Chelsea home match in the Women’s Champions League, following the record-breaking crowd at the same venue for last month’s 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the WSL, which Eriksson believes is further proof of the ever-growing popularity of women’s football in this country.
‘I think we’ve seen it this season,’ she added. ‘Every single game I’ve played in the WSL, no matter where it’s been, it’s been a big crowd, a much noisier crowd than last year and it’s really cool to see that effect of the Euros.
‘You can feel it and also it’s stayed on, it’s not just died out after a couple of months. I feel like women’s football is here to stay in England and it’s just amazing to be a part of it and to be able to experience it as a player.’
Hopefully that continues with a Chelsea victory in front of a Stamford Bridge crowd producing a great atmosphere, at a stadium which has seen so many fantastic European nights over the years.