Emma Hayes doesn’t imagine her trophy-laden Chelsea reign must be outlined by whether or not she will be able to finish the membership’s look forward to a maiden Ladies’s Champions League crown.
Blues boss Hayes is ready to finish a profitable 12-year tenure in the summertime to turn out to be head coach of the USA girls’s workforce.
The 47-year-old has received six Ladies’s Tremendous League titles and lifted the FA Cup 5 occasions throughout her time in cost however continental glory has proved elusive.
Chelsea are on target to succeed in the semi-finals in Europe in Hayes’ swansong season, having constructed a 3-0 mixture lead going into Wednesday night’s quarter-final second leg at house to Ajax.
UEFA Ladies’s Champions League: Chelsea vs Ajax.
— Chelsea FC Ladies (@ChelseaFCW) March 26, 2024
“In fact, if I used to be in a position to win the Champions League in my time right here I’m positive it will be one other unbelievable achievement,” she stated.
“However for my period to be outlined by one competitors might be not what issues most to me.
“What issues most – past the successful over time – is that I’ll depart the shirt in a greater place.
“That’s in all probability the factor I’m most invested in – to make it possible for after I depart, the workforce is in a wonderful place and positively in a greater place than after I took over and the place I can come again as a fan and revel in them hopefully in lots of extra Champions League (campaigns).”
Chelsea got here near Champions League glory in 2021 earlier than struggling an emphatic 4-0 defeat to Barcelona within the last.
The Blues are poised for a possible semi-final rematch with reigning champions Barca this time period.
Who would be the last 4? #UWCL || #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/Tr6bWzvvSg
— UEFA Ladies’s Champions League (@UWCL) March 25, 2024
But, regardless of final week constructing a commanding first-leg lead in Amsterdam, Hayes insists it will be a “mistake” to miss an Ajax workforce with little to lose.
“The worry of shedding or the worry of not being in that semi-final is, for us, as huge a drive as it’s the need to win it, in truth it’s extra,” stated Hayes.
“There isn’t any-one in our dressing room that may take tomorrow’s recreation frivolously or assume for one minute simply because we’re successful 3-0 that the sport is over. That may be a mistake.
“All of it begins in your head, in your thoughts.
“And, when a workforce has nothing to lose, they play with freedom and differently to specific themselves and they’re usually probably the most harmful opponents so, for positive, we don’t take tomorrow frivolously.”
Chelsea’s midweek appointment at Stamford Bridge comes 4 days earlier than the Continental Tyres League Cup last towards Arsenal at Molineux.
The Champions League returns to London. #UWCL pic.twitter.com/fTfWRSlRMH
— Chelsea FC Ladies (@ChelseaFCW) March 26, 2024
Preparations for the Gunners – the one English membership to have received the Champions League following success in 2007 – stay on the back-burner.
“We solely play one recreation at a time; I’m not enthusiastic about Sunday,” stated Hayes.
“I’m enthusiastic about tomorrow. We all know Ajax are going to come back out and be aggressive. We’re anticipating that.
“Just one workforce advances, so we’re ready for the aggression from the opponent.
“They’re a great facet and it’s vital for us to maintain all of our focus and a focus on tomorrow.”
