Manchester City boss Cushing delighted to crown homecoming with win against Chelsea | OneFootball

Manchester City’s interim head coach Nick Cushing was naturally delighted to mark his first home game back in charge of the team with a 2-0 victory over Chelsea last night.

Vivianne Miedema netted both goals for The Cityzens as they claimed an advantage in the first leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final tie.

It had been over five years since Cushing had last overseen a Manchester City performance at The Joie Stadium. After enjoying a winning return, The Cityzens’ interim boss shared his feelings on what it was like being back home.

“Just being back here, in-front of our fans, it’s crazy to think that my last game was in 2020,” Cushing said.
 “It was the first time I’ve been back in the stadium since then, so it was important for me tonight that the team put in a performance that reflects us in this stadium. I really wanted to win the game for the fans tonight.”

Dutch forward Miedema came off the bench to score her brace and secure Manchester City a head start going into next Thursday’s second leg in South West London. Cushing was full of praise for the player.

He said “Her finishing didn’t surprise me. I don’t know if she’s in the nine or number 10. I understand why people have moved her deep. She wants the ball and she wants to be involved in the game and that’s because naturally, she understands the game well and she’s a huge impact player.”

While Manchester City hold a two-goal advantage ahead of the second leg, Cushing is not getting over-excited; he plans to take each game as it comes and not get complacent.

He said “I’ve been in these games where the ties flip really quickly. We wanted to win tonight, we can put that one away now and concentrate on the league game because Sunday’s game is crucial to us. The Stamford Bridge game is after that and we know that any game against Chelsea is going to be incredibly difficult.”

With Manchester City contesting four games against Chelsea across 12 days, their squad is being tested to the limit. Cushing says that it will be a challenge to again prepare the team for the next game on Sunday.

He said “It is tough with so much strain on it with injuries to just keep rolling. We were good in the League Cup final, but we didn’t win and we were good tonight. It’s going to be tough again to turn this team around.

“You look at Chelsea bringing multiple internationals off the bench, but we don’t have that luxury, we have to try and find small ways of getting wins.”

Manchester City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Chelsea takes place at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.