Russo bang on target again as Arsenal outgun Chelsea
Arsenal's Alessia Russo continued her Champions League scoring spree in the win over Chelsea. -AP
Alessia Russo netted her eighth goal in the Women's Champions League this season as holders Arsenal thumped London rivals Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg of their quarter-final.
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The Gunners roared into an early lead on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) when Swedish forward Stina Blackstenius, who scored the only goal of last season's final against Barcelona, headed the opener from Katie McCabe's free kick in the 22nd minute.
Arsenal went into the halftime break leading 2-0 thanks to a superb long-range strike from England winger Chloe Kelly, but Chelsea's Lauren James lashed an even better effort into the top corner in the 66th minute to reduce the deficit.
With the wind howling around the Emirates Stadium and the rain pouring down, Russo restored Arsenal's two-goal cushion ahead of the second leg as she latched on to a Blackstenius pass and steered the ball past Hannah Hampton.
Defeat for Chelsea added to a week of disappointment for Australia's Ellie Carpenter. The Matildas star, who was named on the bench against Arsenal, was part of the Australian side that suffered a heart-breaking 1-0 loss to Japan in the final of the Women's Asian Cup in Sydney on Saturday.
In Tuesday's earlier match, a deflected Lineth Beerensteyn shot gave German side VfL Wolfsburg a 1-0 win over eight-time champions Olympique Lyonnais ahead of next week's second leg in France.
The other two first-leg quarter-finals are on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), when Real Madrid host Barcelona in a big Spanish showdown, and Manchester United make their debut at this stage against Bayern Munich.
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