Chelsea thump Wolfsburg to make women’s Champions League semis

Chelsea cruised into the semi-finals of the women’s Champions League on Wednesday after brushing aside Wolfsburg 3-0 to make the last four 5-1 on aggregate.

Pernille Harder gave Chelsea the lead against her former team in Budapest — where both legs were played — with a 27th-minute penalty and four minutes later Sam Kerr effectively put the tie out of the Germans’ reach.

Fran Kirby made it a perfect afternoon for the Blues with nine minutes left, completing an impressive display against last year’s finalists.

Later on Wednesday Manchester City will attempt to overhaul a 3-0 first leg deficit when they take on Barcelona in England.

On Thursday Bayern Munich will aim to protect a 3-0 lead of their own against Rosengard in Malmo, with Chelsea awaiting them in the last four should they succeed as expected.

The remaining last eight fixture, an all-French clash between Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain, will be played on April 18 after a wave of Covid-19 cases at Lyon forced the fixture to be postponed.

European champions Lyon lead PSG by a single goal as they attempt to claim the top prize in European women’s football for a sixth straight year.

bde/bpa/td/mw