Lucy Bronze on Wednesday headed in the only goal of the game as Chelsea won 1-0 away to Manchester United to wrap up a sixth successive English Women’s Super League title.
The England rightback finally broke the deadlock in a gripping contest at Leigh Sports Village when she glanced a corner past impressive home goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce 16 minutes from time.
Arsenal’s 5-2 defeat by Aston Villa earlier in the day meant the Blues needed just a point against United to wrap up yet another league success, their eighth in 10 seasons and a first under new manager Sonia Bompastor.
Photo: AP
Victory also kept Chelsea on course for an unbeaten season.
“We obviously knew a draw was good enough, we wanted to be unbeaten and before the game we wanted to keep a clean sheet, and it’s really nice to score the goal and get the win as well,” Bronze told Sky Sports.
“It makes it feel a lot better to celebrate being champions when you win a game,” she said. “Although we’ve won the league tonight we know we’ve still got two games [left], we want to win those games and be unbeaten all season.”
Bompastor took over as manager from the long-serving and successful Emma Hayes, now in charge of the US women’s national team.
However, while the Frenchwoman has added to Chelsea’s domestic roll of honor, the UEFA Women’s Champions League continues to remain frustratingly elusive.
Chelsea endured an aggregate 8-2 semi-final thrashing against Barcelona.
“It’s hard to focus on so many competitions,” Bronze said. “We have always said that. We have done fantastically well to keep ourselves in all of them close to the end. It was nice to come here to celebrate a win, the title and move forward and past the disappointment of the weekend.”
SSC Napoli will have to wait one more week to seal the Serie A title after on Sunday being held to a goalless draw at Parma, while closest rivals Inter drew 2-2 in a dramatic game with SS Lazio. Antonio Conte’s team stayed one point ahead of Inter and were unfortunate not to win after twice striking the woodwork through Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Matteo Politano, while Scott McTominay also had a free-kick tipped onto the crossbar. The away side thought they would be handed a chance to take the points from the penalty spot in the 96th minute when David Neres
Omar Marmoush’s stunning long-range strike on Tuesday upstaged Kevin de Bruyne on the Manchester City great’s Etihad farewell. Marmoush let fly from about 30m to put City ahead in their 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. The victory moved Pep Guardiola’s team up to third in the standings and left qualification for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands heading into the last round of the season. “It’s really important. To be in the Champions League after what happened [this season] will be really nice,” the City manager said. De Bruyne was making his final home appearance for City before
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Jack Hinshelwood on Monday sealed a dramatic 3-2 victory against Liverpool to leave the English Premier League champions without a win since clinching the title. Arne Slot’s side took the lead through Harvey Elliott’s early opener before Yasin Ayari equalized at the American Express Stadium. Dominik Szoboszlai restored Liverpool’s advantage just before halftime, but Brighton staged a late fightback as Kaoru Mitoma leveled before Hinshelwood came off the bench to net with his first touch. Liverpool have taken just one point from their three matches following the title-clinching rout of Tottenham Hotspur on April 27. The Reds have lost at
Logan O’Hoppe, Taylor Ward and Matthew Lugo homered, and the Los Angeles Angels spoiled Clayton Kershaw’s season debut, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-9 on Saturday night to take the first two games of the three-game series. Kershaw allowed three runs and threw 38 pitches in the first inning. The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner lasted four innings, giving up five runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Shoulder, toe and knee injuries limited Kershaw to seven games last season, and his 2025 debut was delayed as he recovered from multiple offseason surgeries. O’Hoppe had two hits with