When Chelsea travelled to the Spanish capital to face Real Madrid in their second Women's Champions League group game of the season, they were robbed of two points by a pair of quite ludicrous refereeing decisions. So on Wednesday, Emma Hayes will feel like justice was served, as her Blues side beat Los Blancos 2-1 to secure their place in the quarter finals with a game to spare.
Inspired by the brilliance of Fran Kirby, Chelsea played some beautiful stuff in the opening stages, while also showing some vulnerability to the mercurial talents of World Cup breakout star Linda Caicedo in transition.
Despite Guro Reiten and Mia Fishel having great chances in the first half, the two sides went into the break level, and it would take an error from Madrid's Hayley Raso to help break the deadlock. She clumsily brought down Niamh Charles in the box and up stepped Reiten to slot home from 12 yards.
Raso's scrappy equaliser six minutes later brought Chelsea back down to earth, but they did not rest on their laurels, with the gloriously untamed Erin Cuthbert forcing the ball home through sheer determination a matter of seconds later.
After that, it was pretty much plain sailing, and Hayes will be delighted that top spot is secured heading into next week's final group game against Paris FC.
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