Chelsea’s women’s team, under the successful management of Emma Hayes, demolished Manchester United with a 6-0 victory at Old Trafford, securing their fifth consecutive Women’s Super League (WSL) title and edging out Manchester City only on goal difference. As the race for the title came to a close, Chelsea held the same point total as City but boasted a superior goal difference by two. Against a United team showing minimal defences, Chelsea stormed into an impressive 4-0 lead by halftime, having scored two early goals and two right before break time.
The spotlight was on Mayra Ramirez who scored twice and assisted in goals by Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Sjoeke Nusken. Additional goals were scored by Melanie Leupolz and Fran Kirby, a substitute player who marked her final game for Chelsea with the concluding goal, while Manchester City claimed a 2-1 win against Aston Villa. This triumphant match served as a fitting send-off for manager Emma Hayes, who is set to leave Chelsea and lead the US women’s football team.
Despite suffering defeats in the League Cup final, FA Cup semi-finals, and a 4-3 league loss against Liverpool earlier this month, Hayes’s team boasts an impressive record with fourteen major trophies in Hayes’s twelve year tenure with Chelsea and seven WSL titles in total.
Unfortunately for Marc Skinner’s United squad, who were still celebrating their FA Cup win six days prior, this loss secured their fifth place in the WSL table, which is a fall from grace after they finished as runners-up the previous year. Chelsea’s victory was aided by Mayra Ramirez who, after returning from injury, was a last-minute addition to the line-up and immediately made her presence felt by scoring a goal just two minutes into the game.
Ramirez proved to be a key player, assisting Rytting Kaneryd’s goal only six minutes in and further augmenting Chelsea’s position. An exciting opportunity arose when Rytting Kaneryd nearly aided Reiten in gaining another goal, but they were thwarted by Jayde Riviere’s block. United was inches away from reducing their deficit when Maya Le Tissier narrowly missed a goal.
A change in events occurred when Nusken replaced injured Catarina Macario and subsequently Ramirez clashed with Millie Turner in the penalty area—Chelsea supporters begging for a penalty in vain. However, it wasn’t long before the crowd was cheering for Ramirez again when she surpassed Turner in the 44th minute, providing Nusken an assist to score up close.
Three minutes later, Ramirez outshone herself yet again by slipping past two United players easily before firing the winning shot, inciting a joyful uproar from Hayes. Despite it being just two minutes into the second half, Chelsea inflicted more damage as they took advantage of United’s faltering defence. Reiten managed to deliver a successful cross to Leupolz who then scored by extending his foot at just the right moment.
The match saw a touching moment towards the end as Kirby, who’d recently announced her imminent departure, entered the field in the 72nd minute. She subsequently scored in the 85th minute with an assist from fellow substitute Sophie Ingle. As the final whistle blew, the occasion was rife with sentiments of triumph and closure, marking the end of Hayes’s tenure with her winning team.