VfL Wolfsburg v Chelsea Women – Emma Hayes expects ‘relentless pressure’

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes expects “relentless pressure” from opponents Wolfsburg in the second leg of their Women’s Champions League quarter-final.

“Our concentration and focus has to be extremely high,” Hayes said.

“I expect the challenges they throw at us will be even bigger than they were in the first leg.”

Wolfsburg have won the competition twice, while Chelsea are bidding to reach the semi-finals for the third time.

“We are winning the game at half-time, but they have the experience of being in this position,” Hayes added.

“They are Champions League finalists multiple times. Defensively, we need to do all the fundamentals at the levels that are needed for this type of game.”

Both legs of the last-eight tie are being played at the Szusza Ferenc Stadium in the Hungarian capital Budapest because of coronavirus travel restrictions.

Goals from Sam Kerr and Pernille Harder last Wednesday gave Chelsea a slim advantage for the second leg, in which the Blues are the away side.

Last week’s victory was the west London club’s first win in seven games against Wolfsburg and Hayes says their mentality will not change despite their narrow lead.

“We play to win,” she said. “I don’t look at home and away.

“The players know what we expect. They are reflective of their performance last week.

“We have had time to analyse what we did, and I know there is another level to come from us.”

Wolfsburg have knocked Chelsea out of Europe on three previous occasions – most recently in the 2017-18 semi-finals – and Blues defender Magdalena Eriksson says it would be a “massive achievement” to progress past the German side and book their place in the last four.

“To beat them would be a great stepping stone to what we want to achieve,” the 27-year-old Swede added.

“We learnt a lot about them from the first game and will be even more prepared for the second leg.

“It is still going to be difficult because of the quality of their players.”