Thursday’s briefing: Chelsea win WSL title as focus turns to Europa League

By PA Sport Staff

Chelsea were crowned Women’s Super League champions for a sixth time in a row after securing a 1-0 win at Manchester United.

Elsewhere, Barcelona came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to secure a thrilling 3-3 draw against Inter Milan in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

Lucy Bronze headed a second-half winner as Chelsea clinched another WSL crown.

The England right-back finally broke the deadlock in a pulsating contest at Leigh Sports Village when she glanced a corner past the impressive Phallon Tullis-Joyce 16 minutes from time.

Arsenal’s defeat by Aston Villa earlier on Wednesday had opened the door for the Blues to wrap up yet another league success, their eighth in 10 seasons and a first under new manager Sonia Bompastor.

Yet with third-placed United needing points to secure Champions League qualification, it proved a tough task for a side still reeling from their European humiliation at the hands of Barcelona last weekend.

Lamine Yamal and Denzel Dumfries shared top billing as Barcelona and Inter Milan could not be separated at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.

Dumfries teed up Marcus Thuram for a clever finish after 30 seconds – the fastest goal in a Champions League semi-final – then the Dutchman acrobatically doubled the Serie A champions’ lead.

Yamal got the LaLiga leaders back into it with a candidate for goal of the season on the 17-year-old’s 100th Barcelona appearance and Ferran Torres levelled from six yards to end a riveting first half.

Dumfries put Inter back ahead just after the hour but they were quickly pegged back as Raphinha’s shot from distance cannoned off the goalframe and struck Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer before going in.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan had a goal disallowed for offside while Yamal struck the crossbar at the other end, leaving everything to play for in next Tuesday’s second leg at the San Siro.

Ruben Amorim admitted on the eve of Manchester United’s crunch semi-final against Athletic Bilbao that even Europa League glory cannot save their season.

This has been the Red Devils’ worst campaign of the Premier League era, with the side 14th and on a meagre 39 points with four matches remaining.

“Everybody knows that it’s really important for our season,” Amorim said. “We know that nothing is going to save our season but this can be huge.

“Winning a trophy and also to get in the Champions League to have European games next year could change a lot of things in our club, even in the summer.”

Harry Redknapp has admitted his “joke” about new England boss Thomas Tuchel being a “German spy” had “badly backfired”.

In footage obtained by the Guardian newspaper last month, the 78-year-old former Tottenham manager made the comments during a charity event.

However, Redknapp told Saudi Arabia’s state-owned television channel Al Arabiya: “No, don’t, don’t go there. Oh my god, it was a joke, you know, that badly backfired. But it was only a joke.

“Hopefully he can do well with the team. He managed a lot of the players at Chelsea. He’s certainly got talent at his disposal. We’ve got some fantastic young players in this country at the moment.”

Manchester United visit Athletic Bilbao and Tottenham welcome Bodo/Glimt in the first leg of their Europa League semi-finals while Chelsea travel to Djurgarden in the last four of the Conference League.

Nottingham Forest can leapfrog Newcastle, Manchester City and Chelsea and into third in the Premier League if they win their game in hand against Brentford at the City Ground.

Plenty of Premier League managers will face the media on Thursday with press conferences set to take place at Manchester City, Wolves, Brighton, Fulham, Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton.