Chelsea took another step closer to Champions League glory last night with a 3-1 second-leg quarter-final win over Montpellier HSC to win the tie 5-1 on aggregate.

Fran Kirby opened the scoring on four minutes after latching onto a misplaced pass on the edge of the Montpellier box, allowing the forward a one-on-one with Casey Murphy. 

There wasn’t a person inside Kingsmeadow that thought the Blues striker would do anything other than put the ball in the back of the net and she duly dispatched the left-footed shot past Murphy.

“It’s pretty incredible for everyone involved. I think we thoroughly deserved it over both ties,” said the Blues striker. “We were professional in our performance. I think when they scored we didn’t panic, we just kept going.”

The visitors were given a glimmer of hope when, on 34 minutes, Janice Cayman’s pass found Sofia Jakobsson down the right-hand side. 

With a couple of stepovers, Jakobsson forced some space from the defenders and hit a looping right-footed shot. It was always going in from the moment it left her foot, beating Hedvig Lindahl and going in off the far post.

Chelsea put the tie to bed five minutes after the restart when Kirby’s through ball found Ramona Bachmann who placed her shot above and beyond Murphy.

Chelsea were awarded a penalty on 76 minutes when So-Yun Ji proved too difficult for the Montpellier defence to deal with legally. Kirby showed composure in front of goal again to finish the spot-kick low and left.

Jakobsson nearly doubled her own tally with a crafty back-heel that had Lindahl beat forcing a goal-saving clearance by Hannah Blundell on the line.

The Blues will face Wolfsburg in the semi-final, a side that have knocked them out in the last two seasons. Is it time for payback? “Yes, I think so,” said Kirby. “We’re a different team from back then. We’re full of confidence; we’re playing good football. We’ve got experience now in the Champions League and I think it’s going to be a really good game for the neutral.”