HUNGER GAME. Novices Austria Wien and seasoned Chelsea are both hungry for success
Having got through their respective qualifiers, Chelsea and Austria Wien meet on Matchday One in the league stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League – with very different histories in Europe.
Helen M Jerome speaks to Chelsea’s head coach Sonia Bompastor and key midfielder Keira Walsh, and Chloe Shields talks to Austria Wien’s defender Verena Hanshaw.
Wien have one of the biggest hurdles in football to overcome when they meet a Chelsea who have tried and tried again to get hold of that one trophy that eludes them, the Champions League.
CHELSEA
With a quarter final exit last season against London rivals Arsenal, after a string of semi-final defeats to Barcelona in 2024 and 2025, the Blues will be determined to turn their UWCL fortunes around this season.
Their squad is filled with UEFA Women’s Champions League winners. Keira Walsh, Ellie Carpenter, new striker Melvine Malard and five-time champ Lucy Bronze are all central to their success, while Dutch youngsters Veerle Burman and Wieke Kaptein are also crucial.
Academy graduate Lexi Potter started and scored her debut WSL goal last weekend against Birmingham City, a shining star after her loan season with Palace. Whether Bompastor sticks or twists with the young midfielder in the starting line-up remains to be seen (it does seem likely) but is increasingly vital for their strength in depth as double game weeks begin.
With a home crowd and confidence from their league thumping of United and victory against Birmingham, Chelsea should be quite comfortable with their opening tie, but they are not complacent, and the Vienna outfit will want to show Europe what they can do.
Sonia Bompastor reckons the UEFA Women’s Champions League is the best competition for a club to play in and Chelsea’s crucial task right now is keeping players fit. There’s no LJ, Cuthbert, Beever-Jones or Ramirez, but Bjorn and Girma are in the squad again. Melvine Malard is also most definitely back, and as Keira Walsh explains, the France forward adds energy off as well as on the pitch. For Walsh herself, she says aiming for the Champions League final stages is a big part of why she joined Chelsea.
Bompastor knows that her opponents, Austria Wien are physically strong and tactically astute. She has a lot of respect for them, and knows they have nothing to lose and no pressure as underdogs. But she has Chelsea’s game plan ready.
We spoke to both head coach and key midfielder Walsh just before Matchday One in the League phase of the UWCL, and both were raring to go.
SONIA BOMPASTOR
First up, we spoke to head coach Sonia Bompastor:
This is a mammoth week for Chelsea, Sonia. You’ve got the triple threat of the unknown Austria Wien, the all too familiar Arsenal, and then it’ll be quite an emotional homecoming at Lyon.
So, how do you prioritise when you’ve got such a kind of thunderbolt of a week?
Sonia Bompastor: Our job as a staff is to be prepared in any game, and we already know a lot about the next three games coming up.
But also, my job is to focus on the next one; the one tomorrow.
And I’m fully focused on this one because it’s the first game in Champions League campaign.
We want to have a strong start and be ready to just have a good performance and a good result in that game.
So I’m not thinking at all, even if I had time before to organise and think about the Arsenal and the Lyon game. My focus right now is just on the one tomorrow.
You haven’t played Vienna, but you have played another Austrian team, St. Pölten, before. And I wonder if this helps… I don’t know if there’s an Austrian style?
Bompastor: No, I think it’s good to know they were able to be the best team in Austria.
St. Pölten has been a club who is being consistent in the Champions League.
So for [Austria Wien] to be the ones who are playing the Champions League this season means they have a good team.
I think they were also able to eliminate Brann, who was a historical team in the Champions League, and they also have a great team and great players.
So we need to be aware of that.
And probably they will bring some physicality to the game tomorrow.
But also, every team now is improving in terms of the tactical aspects.
The teams are really well organised.
They are physically ready to fight from the first minute until the end of the game, so nothing will be easy.
But we are also confident with the quality we have in our squad to be able to find a way to win the game.
KEIRA WALSH
Then it was Keira Walsh’s turn to give her thoughts… though Bompastor couldn’t help chipping in, of course…
And for you, Keira, how do you approach playing a team you’ve never encountered before, maybe not even heard of before?
How do you prepare, and manage your own nerves and those of all the youngsters around you?
Keira Walsh: I think I just prepare for every game the same, whether I’m out on playing or I’m not.
I think, as Sonia said, they must be a good team, they’ve qualified for the Champions League.
But for me it’s our first game at home, and we want to win it.
Yeah, for me the preparations are exactly the same.
We’re going in with the same mindset, mentality, and just at home in the game.
With Lexi Potter, I wonder what she’s added to her game because it seems to me she’s really matured… and could she eventually be Keira Walsh 2.0?
Walsh: She’s probably going to be better than me, to be honest!
And I think she’s always played the same way.
Obviously, it’s just she’s finding her feet more, and actually starting. I think she’s always been pretty similar in the way she plays, in terms of composure and confidence.
She’s quietly confident, but it’s just really nice to see her getting the minutes.
In training she works really hard, and she’s probably deserved that this season.
So I’m enjoying playing with her, and hopefully she feels the same about me as well.
Bompastor: It was mine. The decision was on me!
Lexi was performing last season as well, but it was just on me to make the decision.
It feels like she’s maybe got stronger?
Bompastor: Yeah, because she’s playing alongside Keira, so they both look good when they play alongside each other!
I’m lucky to have two really good English players in those positions.
AUSTRIA WIEN
For Austria Wien, this is an exciting moment, as they make their debut in the UEFA Women’s Champions League after an exciting second leg play-off victory against SK Brann secured their spot in the league phase.
They are entering an era that a few years ago wouldn’t have seemed possible. A stalwart in second place of the Austrian league behind St Pölten, they dipped down to fifth in 2023-24, steadily rising up the table since until their double league and cup victory last campaign. They have been through UWCL qualification four times before finally reaching the main phase of the competition this year.
Recruiting proven experience alongside retaining promising European talent, including 11-time Slovakian player of the year Dominika Škorvánková and 21-year-old Lucia Orkić, has created a squad under manager Stefan Kenesei that can do themselves proud in their debut UEFA Women Champions League season.
VERENA HANSHAW
Austrian International Verena Hanshaw is no stranger to the threat Chelsea bring, spending last season at West Ham. The defender has 116 caps for her country, a mainstay in the squad since 2011, and at the beginning of this year swapped the WSL for the ÖFB Frauen Bundesliga.
Hanshaw isn’t new to the UWCL either, experiencing European nights during her season at Italian side Roma, but is now excited to be playing back at home and able to represent her country’s league on the continental stage.
Bringing her years of experience and leadership to the young starting XI, alongside captain Carina Wenninger and Katharina Schiechtl, Hanshaw embraces this role, using her calm head to advise and support the next generation coming through.
We spoke to a proud Hanshaw ahead of Wien’s opening game of the competition, taking her back to London, against Chelsea:
It’s not long ago that you were playing against Chelsea for West Ham, what challenges do you think they will give you, what have you been warning your team about?
Hanshaw: A lot of challenges, I think.
They are a great team, a top team with top players… and when they play, everything looks so easy and it always seems that they do the right thing or make the right decision, and fast.
It’s going to be important that we stand good as a team, that we look after the ball and defend really good.
Yeah, we just have to look out, they move a lot. They have the individual qualities, but I think if we’re physically able to do what we do best for the whole time, that will help us for sure.
For people who didn’t see your brilliant 4-0 comeback win against Brann in the play-offs, what can we expect from this Austria Wien team, what do you want to prove in this competition?
Hanshaw: We are a team with such a big hunger, and we fight no matter what until the last minute and this is what I want to show in the game.
That’s what makes us “us”, and I think, if we can show this in every single minute, every single tackle, every part of the game, that’s what makes Austria Wien, Austria Wien.
We never give up and we always fight until the end.
Austria Wien’s European journey begins at 8pm (GMT) on Wednesday 23rd September at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, where Chelsea will want to start off strong and Austria can look to disrupt the order.
Wien then head back to Vienna for an important battle against fellow debutants Inter Milan while Chelsea face a difficult test against last year’s runners-up Lyon away.
You can find out more here: https://wheretowatch.uefa.com/
Photos: Helen M Jerome, UEFA, Instagram.
