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Chelsea completed striker transfer to beat Man Utd as £200m Roman Abramovich statement matched

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Chelsea produced a typically strong display to win the women's FA Cup 3-0 with their fourth clean sheet in a row. The victory wraps up an unbeaten domestic treble.

Sonia Bompastor's side had already wrapped up the Women's Super League and League Cup, drawing only three matches in the process. They rounded off a stunning campaign with the sort of determined performance which has seen them create history.

Sandy Baltimore put the Blues ahead through a penalty late on in the first half. She converted after Erin Cuthbert had been fouled in the box by Celin Bizet. Substitute Catarina Macario then sealed the game late on in front of the Chelsea end before Baltimore added gloss to the scoreline with a third.

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. He was there, as the founder of Reddit, along with his family.

That is the sort of impact that Chelsea's women are having on the game as they look to continue to set the pace for the game in England. Already backed by the heavy spending of Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly, the difference in ownership models on show here could not have been more stark.

This Chelsea squad is full of depth with nobody scoring more than nine goals in the Women's Super League this season. Instead, it has been a real team effort. There are still star names and big players, and this is not to say that the latter years of Emma Hayes were not a result of strong group dynamics, but without Lauren James for much of the campaign and Sam Kerr absent for all of it, Chelsea have had to take a different approach.

They entered this game striving to match the treble-winning 2020/21 season. That was an achievement to match the peak of anything under Roman Abramovich's tenure with the Champions League once more proving to be elusive. Bompastor has found the same to be true herself but nevertheless completed a remarkable first year in charge.

Here, football.london has a digest of the match with player ratings and some of the key moments analysed.

Player ratings

Hannah Hampton - Accurate as ever with her feet. Dealt with the few efforts aimed at her with ease. Out very quickly to smother the ball ahead of Elisabeth Terland and took a good late claim from a hopeful long ball. 7

Lucy Bronze - Kept Leah Galton quiet and was able to give the ball to Beever-Jones and Ramirez to do the bulk of the attacking work ahead of her. 8

Nathalie Bjorn - Showed why her teammates love her so much as the player of the season. Managed to keep things moving for Chelsea at the back without much challenge. 8

Naomi Girma - Calm and composed, hitting some nice long balls off both feet. Looks like she has more time than anyone else on the field. 8

Millie Bright - Not as dominant or assured as usual, mistiming a defensive header and getting caught on the ball. Played a few threaded passes through the lines. 6

Sandy Baltimore - Slotted away her penalty and picked up some nice spaces between the lines and connected midfield with attack. Took her second brilliantly, turning to score in the box. 9

Niamh Charles - As industrious as always, holding the width and providing an outlet. Combined with Baltimore throughout. 8

Keira Walsh - Kept things ticking over and moved the United midfielders around with her. Smooth on the ball when she had it, leaving the exciting stuff to the forwards. 7

Erin Cuthbert - Won the penalty after reacting quickest to the loose ball. Another all-action display to shut down United from getting up the field. Chelsea's midfield general. 7

Mayra Ramirez - Always a willing runner and held the ball up well. Joined with Beever-Jones effectively and created something out of nothing to nearly score early on. Got her side up the field brilliantly. 8

Aggie Beever-Jones - Energetic and determined, always hustling the United defence and created the first real chance of the game out of her own sublime skill to nick the ball ahead of Gabby George before heading towards goal. Belted an easier effort over late on. 8

Substitutes:

Catarina Macario (On for Ramirez, 61') - Had a nice dribble by the corner flag and then headed over there to celebrate, scoring a great header. &

Wieke Kaptein (On for Beever-Jones, 74') - Not on for long enough to get a rating. Missed a good chance to make it 3-0.. N/A

Guru Reiten (On for Baltimore, 92') - N/A

Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (On for Bronze, 92') - N/A

Sjoeke Nusken (On for Cuthbert, 92') - N/A

Chelsea make £200m point

Heading into this game it was impossible to ignore that Chelsea had just taken a step towards meeting their £200milion valuation which caused quite a stir when the official club accounts dropped last month. In a statement which saw a surprise profit announced, it was confirmed that the women would, from here on in, be a separate entity.

It cannot be escaped that by selling the women's team to themselves (they are now under the ownership of BlueCo 22 MidCo, a holding company for the Clearlake-Boehly consortium),

Many scoffed at the price given, though. That was for good reason, too. Chelsea's women are running at a loss of almost £10million per year and had total revenues of barely £11million last year. How, outsiders ask, does this warrant such a huge multiplier?

Well, the 74,412 watchers at Wembley on Sunday are part of that. The women's game is still developing in England and continues to grow. It faces serious questions over how to continue its expansion, which are not easy to answer, but Ohanian clearly believes that there is potential here.

He has had a similar investment in American women's football and said he sees Chelsea as "the next global women's sports brand." If he can make that become a reality then the £200million figure will be more acceptable soon enough.

Given Chelsea have been so far ahead of their rivals this season and the new owners are so willing to keep things ticking over with relatively small outlays in the grand scheme (the January deals for Girma and Walsh cost less than £2milllion for two of the best players around, which shows the disparity in cost with the men's game), it has been easy, so to speak, to sustain their elite level.

That was evident on the field as Chelsea played their way through a good start from United to take full control of the game. Initially going direct, Chelsea soon had the ball on the deck and were rewarded with the opening goal.

The technical quality and discipline from Chelsea penned back United, who struggled to stop the Bompastor juggernaut, as so many have and so many in England look likely to for a while to come.

Hitting Ramirez

Chelsea's game plan to go directly into their striker was a clear way forward for Bompastor as they weathered an early storm. Despite not seeing much of the ball in the opening stages, they were content to look for the chest and head of Ramirez even when two centre-backs surrounded her.

It did mean, at times, that United regained possession quickly but Bompastor made it obvious that this was what she wanted as United had the better of the early knockings. After Hampton kicked towards Ramirez, who held the ball up and got Chelsea into a nice passing triangle on the left side with Charles, Cutherbert, and Girma, Bompastor was quick to put her thumb up to the goalkeeper.

Hampton had been knocking most of her kicks over the United team in a bid to seek Ramirez, who was always pestering with runs behind, linking nicely with Beever-Jones. The pair play in tandem nicely, asking questions of their opponents with directness and verticality.

Bompastor also gestured to Girma, showing that she was happy with the style of play and the methods being used by Chelsea. As she stood on the touchline, prowling like someone who wished she could still be out there, Chelsea were barked on with orders and the players listened.

Hampton continued to look for clips across the field and helped Chelsea to move from one end to the other in three passes after Bronze flicked on towards Beever-Jones, whose cross was deflected and well stopped by Phallon Tullis-Joyce. It was the way of the day for Chelsea but only until they could take ownership of proceedings, keeping the ball comfortably themselves.

Chelsea signed Ramirez in January last year, bolstering their attacking options in order to chase a big finish with Hayes. Ramirez might not have been a goalscorer here but her threat helped Chelsea to get up the field and push the United backline about.

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