Nick Cushing believes that the final of the League Cup of Manchester City against Chelsea will give its players fuel for their Women's Champions League Quarte Final against the Blues.
Cushing is in interim charging after Gareth Taylor was fired only a few days before Sunday's showpiece, so that supervised the 2-1 loss of the Citizens in the League Cup final in Pride Park.
But City's attention is now focusing on the European stage, where Cushing is looking for their second place in Group D behind holders Barcelona on target difference.
This will only be the second ever Champions League band between two English parties after Birmingham City Arsenal from the quarterfinals 2013-14 has eliminated.
But this month City has already played four times, with a further four games planned in March, the next three of which are all on the side of Sonia Bompastor.
“Of course it is difficult to play this number of games,” Cushing began. “You have a huge game that we just played on Saturday for an even bigger game tomorrow.
“I think the team is motivated. The pain of losing the League Cup final, playing well and being in the game for everything, I think that almost replaces the tiredness.
“And what I see is a group of players who are really hungry to get back to work.”
Thank you very much to the best fans in the world for making the trip to Pride Park with us today pic.twitter.com/wkbcimzb4w
– Women of Manchester City (@mancitywomen) March 15, 2025
City has only won one of their last eight home games against Chelsea in all competitions (D3 L4), a 2-0 win in the Women's Super League in March 2023. The most recent such meeting between the couple saw the blues win 1-0 in the semi-final of last season's League Cup.
Cushing was in charge of the club the last time they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, and hope to repeat the trick for the first time since 2017-18.
The most recent appearance of the citizens in the last eight of the competition came in 2020-21, also under Cushing, when they were eliminated by Barcelona despite winning 2-1 in their home leg of that draw.
Although City has stopped from the top three in the WSL in recent weeks, Cushing believes that there are solid foundations to build and said that their last setback against Chelsea has given his team extra momentum to take revenge on the blues on Wednesday.
“If I believe, there have been a number of incredible results this year. The team knows they are a good team. We beat Barcelona here, the team defeated Arsenal to go to the competition cup final that we just played,” added Cushing.
“I think what I want is a team that embraces who they play. And in a game where they played so well in the first half, we have to be at least 1-1. And we get level, then we have the greatest chance.
“When I believe, I mean to continue and win the game. There is a team in that knows they are good. They are together, but for me it is about the fact that we can really win.
“And if we feel and see that, this team will consistently win. The team is in a good place. I actually think that the result of Saturday is almost fuel for this team because the training yesterday and the group where I have just been, you can see the ambition they have.”
Get ready for a night under the lights #uwcl pic.twitter.com/epinhlcggo
– Women van Manchester City (@mancitywomen) 17 March 2025
But if the city continues, they will have to do this without Khadija Shaw, who could miss both legs against the blues with a muscle injury picked up in the League Cup final.
Japan International Aoba Fujino was also injured in the final and will at least miss the first stage of the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Cushing confirmed.
“Two important players are missing,” Cushing added. “But for us these moments offer opportunities to other players,” Cushing said.
“Both are muscle injuries … The problem with these kinds of injuries is that it will take a few days to even diagnose how long the problem is. I think they are important.”
Pushed on the chances that Shaw and Fujino were available for the second stage on 27 March, Cushing said: “If you have muscle injuries and you cannot diagnose the time frame, there will be none that you can quickly turn around.”
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