The last time Chelsea women lost a match, it was May 2024 and Rishi Sunak was still prime minister.
That was the moment that Emma Hayes admitted her Swansong Fifth Singonne WSL title, only for the legendary manager to eventually get her way and to ensure that her departure from West Londs for the United States had the perfect end.
Chelsea's Aura of invincibility is steadfast and punishing since that 4-3 defeat in Liverpool at the end of last season.
But finally, Sonia Bompastor will have to talk to her players with the last whistle to do some work.
Chelsea was unbeaten in 31 games before the visit on Wednesday to Joie Stadium. If they had kept the city outside, they would have broken the record for most games unbeaten in all competitions by a WSL club in all competitions in history.
But the sparkle of Vivianne Miedema, who took the blues in so many fights during her seven-year-old Stint in North London, came to the field with 45 minutes and with Champions League football in her sights, the game changed.
“We have depth in the team, but not at the moment because of the injuries and when you look at Chelsea who brings in several internationals from the bank, we don't have that luxury,” Cushing said.
“We had to find small ways to get victories and Viv (Miedema) who start on the couch tonight and get off the couch is a bit of a gamble, but I knew that she could come 45 (minutes) and be a huge presence and you can see that with the result.”
This was the second of four consecutive meetings between the two teams. Chelsea won the first on Sunday and defeated City to the League Cup final in a narrow 2-1 win in Pride Park.
The Cup final was the first match of Nick Cushing in the City Dugout in his second enchantment in the club, who was appointed at the beginning of last week.
City remains without their most important players, including Captain Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp, Aoba Fujino and their goal scorer Bunny Shaw.
So much play of the city revolves around the physical and air dominance of their Jamaican No. 9.
In her absence, they had the quality in their build -up game, but they still did not look like a central point to complete the positive sequences of their broad players, such as Mary Fowler and Kerolin.
On the other side of the field, Mayra Ramirez again turned out to be a handful for Laia Aleixandri of Spain, the two suits from where they stayed on Sunday in what turns out to be one of the most intriguing battles of this fixture.
Despite the fact that he was regularly surpassed and surpassed by the Colombian, Aleixandri managed to keep Ramirez largely at a distance in what ended as a quiet first half in the last third third part for both teams.
Cushing sent Vivianne Miedema during the break, and the home team immediately looked better, with the Dutch attacker who quickly connected with Kerolin after the restart, a partnership that grew in force during the second half.
“Tonight we saw the best of Kerolin when Viv came up because VIV would come deeper and that would open spaces and she can link and kerolin can run inside,” Cushing said.
And of course it was the WSL scorer of all time who was the first to jump on a loose ball in the penalty area of Chelsea and hit it in the roof of the net after the original header of Laia Aleixri was pushed on the bar by Hannah Hampton.
The defense of Chelsea had been waterproof to the moment, but Miedema found a way to unlock the doors.
And, after full-time, the 28-year-old took the ball from the edge of the box of the ever-impressive kerolin and stroked it along the vast hand of Hampton.
The Chelsea players fell on the floor at the last whistle. They are given the opportunity to place this right to Stamford Bridge next Thursday, knowing that they have a long hill with two goals to climb.
Sonia Bompastor was challenging after the game and said that she 'doesn't care' for the now broken undefeated record.
“We were expecting a tough game tonight,” said the Chelsea boss. 'I think City on Saturday (in the competition cup final) showed in the competition how good they were. I expect the next two games to be difficult again, but I still think we have the quality to beat this team. '
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