Ann-Katrin Berger helped Chelsea win a big game in the Champions League.
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Chelsea’s manager Emma Hayes wants to win the Champions League. To do this, she believes she needs two excellent players for every position – even in goal! Former England keeper Rachel Brown-Finnis explains that teams like Lyon and Barcelona manage to have world-class internationals playing at all levels.
Berger was listed for the Best Fifa Women’s Goalkeeper Award, and has done exceptionally well this year. Especially in one outstanding performance against Lyon during the Champions League quarter-finals which earned Chelsea a win due to her successful penalty saves.
This is made even more surprising by Berger going through treatment for thyroid cancer again while Germany was competing in Euro 2022 final; making nights like her game against Lyon even more remarkable.
Siobhan Chamberlain, a former England goalkeeper, said that it’s remarkable how the player managed to come back. She also mentioned that if someone has taken some time off for any reason, another person must be available to fill in their spot since you need two top-quality keepers to win titles. If not, then a kid could be on the bench but that won’t guarantee success at the highest level.
Working Together
Zecira Musovic has been goalie for Chelsea for most of their last 16 games. But Berger, who is 32 years old, made a mistake in the last match against Real Madrid. She accidentally passed the ball to Caroline Weir who easily scored from 22 yards away. A few days later, Berger had two goals scored against her while playing Reading. One of them came when Sanne Troelsgaard’s shot slipped under her body into the goal.
Hedvig Lindahl, 26 years of age, played in the team’s next six matches, one of which being a 1-1 draw against Arsenal. She put on an impressive show, making multiple great saves before Sam Kerr scored to tie it all up.
Though Lindahl stepped out of the team for some time in February, coach Emma Hayes has continued to switch between both keepers – Lindahl playing again Castleford and Aston Villa (in the Women’s Super League) as well as during the FA Cup quarterfinal against Reading.
Unlike other positions in soccer, goalkeepers can’t be easily replaced or moved around. Being a goalkeeper is really challenging as they need to find the right balance between helping their teammates and wanting to get experience on the field. Brown-Finnis has experienced this personally.
I used to be England’s number one goalkeeper, but I got hurt while playing for Everton, so the manager chose to keep the other goalie instead. It’s very important that you understand and accept why this decision was made. Clear communication is key in these situations; you need to know what’s happening while you’re out with an injury.
Musovic said that even though he might be one of the top players in England, he knows that means he has to continue to work hard and not rest on his laurels. He added that it’s essential for all players within a team to support each other as well as strive for their own personal goals.
I’m trying to be the best I can be, which includes being a good teammate and helping them out. When they do well, I have to do even better so that we can be the best version of ourselves. We can’t let our own personal goals get in the way of working together or feeling bad because one person is playing more than the other.
When playing in goal, you should always try to be the best. Don’t depend on others to make mistakes, do your best and work hard for five games or five months until you’ve reached a high standard of performance. If you focus on achieving that, then every goalie will benefit from it.
“The Goalkeeper Shuffle
Chelsea have made a deal and will be signing Belgium goalkeeper Nicky Evrard from Leuven. This means that next season the team’s goalkeeping choices will increase to three players with Berger and Musovic who are already signed until 2024 and 2025 respectively, while Nicky Evrard aged 26, has agreed to join Chelsea.
“Evrard only agreed to this because there was a clear difference between the goalkeepers — whether they were trying to be first-choice starters or not,” said Brown-Finnis.
“It might sound strange why anyone would want to join the team if they weren’t going to be number one, but that’s just life as a goalkeeper.”
Chamberlain thinks Hayes’ skills with managing players will be very important here — but it’ll probably be tough keeping all three goalkeepers happy.
When you have three goalkeepers from different countries, each of their national teams will expect them to play.
