Catarina Macario scored two penalties in the space of five minutes in the second half to allow Chelsea to beat Real Madrid (2-1) in the Women’s Champions League on Tuesday and confirm their status as group winners.
Introduced at half-time when his team was trailing after the early opener of Caroline Weir for guests, Catarina Macario25, showed composure to convert two penalties and allow Chelsea to take a six-point lead over their opponents on the last day of Group B.
“We weren’t very happy with our performance in the first half, declared Sonia BompastorChelsea’s manager. We all sat together at halftime and said we had nothing to lose. We have a strong mentality and that is important to win matches.”
Weir’s goal in the seventh minute allowed the Real Madrid to qualify for the quarter-finals as group winner on goal difference.
If the match had ended 1-0 for Casa Blanca, the two clubs would have both won their home match by a goal – the Blues beat the Merengues 3-2 in October – and with the aggregate score 3-3, the group would have been decided on goal difference throughout the group stage.
Macario equalized six minutes after entering the field, before completing his comeback in the 56th minute.
“Macario is a world class player, she changed the game. She showed a lot of confidence by scoring these two penalties,” Bompastor said.
The captain of Real Madrid, Olga Carmona was the player who allowed the English champions to get back into the match. She brought down Macario to concede the first penalty kick, before being penalized for a handball in the area.
This result allows Chelsea to win their last nine group matches in the Champions League. In the other group match, the Dutch from Twente condemned the Celtic to a sixth defeat in six outings by winning 3-0 in Enschede.
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