Chelsea are now level with Real Madrid at the top of their Women's Champions League group after defender Millie Bright volleyed the Blues to a 1-0 victory over Paris St-Germain.
Any away win in Europe is an achievement, but this victory nicely sets up Chelsea for hosting Albanian champions Vllaznia at Kingsmeadow under the floodlights on Wednesday.
With Emma Hayes recuperating at home after an emergency op (and likely to be away for a further five or six weeks), she couldn't have asked for a better tonic.
Denise Reddy made the dugout decisions in the French capital on Thursday night, in consultation with Paul Green, with goalscorer Bright and midfielder Erin Cuthbert the stand-out performers for Chelsea. Hayes was in communication with her managerial colleagues via radio earpieces.
The Blues rattled PSG, so much so that their manager Gerard Precheur ended up being yellow-carded in the dying moments – a familiar sight in the men's game, but a rarity in the much more respectful realm of women's football.
Clinging on to an early goal, especially away from home, is never easy, but Chelsea produced a masterclass in control and game management against a French side who reached the semi-finals of the tournament in each of the last three seasons, and are rated the third best team in Europe by Uefa.
Chelsea, on the other hand, stuttered in the group stages last year after their 4-0 humiliation in the final of 2021 against Barca, and sit sixth in the Uefa rankings.
With Ramona Bachmann leading the line for PSG against her old club, Chelsea played with Sam Kerr up front, backed by the triumvirate of Niamh Charles, Pernille Harder and Guro Reiten.
The breakthrough, and only goal, came on 27 minutes. After a debatable Chelsea corner was cleared, Erin Cuthbert booted the ball back into PSG's danger area, and Bright launched a volley straight over keeper Sarah Bouhaddi, who has just celebrated her 36th birthday.
"We were happy about the clean sheet," said Bright after the game. "And there were loads of opportunities for us to get more goals tonight… which is a positive."
She had special praise for the Chelsea fans who followed the team out to France. "Our fans were incredible, coming all the way out here. We genuinely do hear them during the game, so lots of love to them!"
Chelsea Women travel to Brighton in the Women's Super League on Sunday evening before their next European match on Wednesday, followed by Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow the following Sunday.
Tickets for the Aston Villa game are still available.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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