Sam Kerr revealed she is feeling 100% again but insisted she will start her return slowly after scoring a brace in Chelsea’s 6-0 defeat to St Polten in the Champions League.
Kerr marked her first competitive start for the Blues in 692 days with two second-half goals at NV ARENA as Chelsea climbed to second in the league stage standings.
Catarina Macario also played for Sonia Bompastor’s side with a double of her own, while Wieke Kaptein’s opener and an own goal from Lisa Ebert completed the thrashing.
It’s been a long road for Kerr, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in January last year, and this season she has slowly been reintegrated into the first-team squad.
She has made seven appearances in the Women’s Super League this season, all from the bench, but the Australian was happy with how she performed on Tuesday.
“Obviously I’d rather play more minutes. If you play 20 minutes it’s a bit hectic, there’s a lot of substitutions and it can be a bit lackluster,” Kerr told Disney+.
“I feel like today was good. I had a few chances. I’m just happy to be here again in the Champions League with a great team. I’m enjoying every moment.”
Kerr finished the match with team-high totals for shots (11), shots on target (five) and touches in the opponent’s penalty area (18), while Chelsea also made Champions League history with her goal.
“I feel 100% but I was out for a while so I need to build myself up,” Kerr added.
“Today was a good set, right? Getting some good minutes in the national team was good. I’m certainly fit enough, it’s just about getting some miles in my legs. I’m ready to go.”
Bompastor was also pleased with Chelsea’s overall performance, but admitted her team should have been in a more comfortable position heading into half-time.
The Blues boss had called on her players to be more clinical in the final third ahead of kick-off but was limited to just two goals despite 15 shots on net from Carina Schluter, seven of which were on target.
Chelsea improved after the break to finish the match with a huge expected goals (xG) ratio of 5.39 from their 43 shots, but Bompastor wants to see improvements in that area before their upcoming WSL clash with Liverpool.
“Listen, we were able to score the first goal early in the game. I think it always helps, and I probably would have liked the team to have scored the goals a little bit earlier,” she said.
“If you analyze the performance, it was a great performance. We scored some great goals and overall it was very positive.”
“I think we had a clear game plan. We talked a lot about being patient and moving the ball from one side to the other to open up spaces.”
“I think we had control of the ball most of the time. I think we were also quite good at breaking lines and making runs from behind.
“I think we created good chances. In the first half we could have shot from distance, but in the second half we scored some great goals.”
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