Chelsea came into the game with a formidable record over United, winning 100% of their cup final meetings and only dropping points in two of their past 12 league games.<\/p>\n
But injuries in the squad and absences because of the Asia Cup meant this was a depleted Chelsea, albeit United were also without key midfielders Hinata Miyazawa and Ella Toone.<\/p>\n
There was a feeling this was United’s best chance to overcome Chelsea, when their opponents were vulnerable and the ‘mentality monsters’ mask appeared to have slipped ever so slightly.<\/p>\n
However, Chelsea’s biggest superpower has been their ability to block out the noise, to bounce back when they have been written off, and ultimately, to win prizes.<\/p>\n
After 90 minutes, it was the familiar sight of Chelsea lifting the cup, Blues fans celebrating in the stands and Lucy Bronze playing with gold confetti. <\/p>\n
Bronze, who won her 24th club trophy, helped Bompastor walk her children on to the pitch on Mother’s Day to celebrate, and the full-back tapped the tip of the trophy when she received her medal, itching to get her hands on it properly.<\/p>\n
Chelsea players stood in a team huddle, with Bompastor in the centre delivering a message, while United captain Maya Le Tissier and manager Marc Skinner were in frustrated conversation in the centre circle for some time. <\/p>\n
United had come unstuck once again – but this was business as usual for Chelsea.<\/p>\n
“There’s been a lot of noise and that’s because of what Chelsea have done, winning 18 trophies over a period of time,” former England midfielder Fara Williams said on BBC One. <\/p>\n
“Everybody expects, and is so used to, Chelsea winning. When they have a blip, eyebrows are raised and questions are asked.<\/p>\n
“I really think they proved themselves today.”<\/p>\n
Only three teams have lifted the Women’s League Cup trophy since its introduction in 2011 – Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.<\/p>\n
Chelsea swept every domestic trophy in 2024-25, going unbeaten in the process, during Bompastor’s first season in charge.<\/p>\n
It is unlikely they will win this trophy again soon with changes coming into place next season, meaning teams competing in the Women’s Champions League – which Chelsea hope to be doing – not involved in this competition. <\/p>\n
It was important therefore to win, not only to defend their title, not only to block out the noise, but to enjoy it one more time. <\/p>\n
“I told the players before the game that when you have the opportunity to play a final, it’s always a special occasion,” said Bompastor. <\/p>\n
“For us to achieve that one more time is great. It’s a special day also in my private life with it being Mother’s Day and having my kids around me. <\/p>\n
“They are my biggest support so to give them the opportunity to celebrate is nice and it feels great.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea came into the game with a formidable record over United, winning 100% of their cup final meetings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-542816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}