Pernille Harder on target as Chelsea cruise past Wolfsburg into women's Champions League semi-finals

Pernille Harder scored against her former club for the second time in a week as Chelsea secured a 3-0 win over VfL Wolfsburg on Wednesday to complete a 5-1 aggregate victory in their women's Champions League quarter-final in Budapest.

Despite holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg, Chelsea made a nervy start before two-time winners Wolfsburg conceded a penalty in the 26th minute when Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh brought down Sam Kerr inside the box.

Harder slotted the penalty into the bottom left corner, before the English champions extended their advantage through Kerr shortly after.

The Australian striker took the ball on the turn before finding the bottom corner with a powerful strike past Wolfsburg goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek.

Fran Kirby added gloss to the scoreline with an 81st-minute strike as Chelsea booked a place Champions League semi-finals for the third time since making their competition debut in the 2015-16 season.

"I think this probably ranks as my most favourite win in charge," said Chelsea manager Emma Hayes.

"I posed the challenge to the group around their maturity, the learning. That's how you show your manager, how we are growing up in Europe.

"I've waited nine years for today. That's a long time for this moment.

"To think the players played with that level of control, discipline, assured nature - they carried out what I wanted them to do in its entirety - I cannot tell you how crucial we think those things matter and everybody does their job. This is not just a win to get through to the semi-finals. This is a nine-year project and I think it's a really big day for us and a really big day for women's football in England. But, you know, I'm going to say it's not enough. I want more."

The result comes as a huge blow for last year's runners-up Wolfsburg, who won each of their four matches in the competition without conceding a goal on their way to the quarter-finals.

Chelsea will next face the winner of the quarter-final tie between Bayern Munich and FC Rosengard. Bayern hold a 3-0 lead over the Swedish outfit heading into the second leg on Thursday.

The second leg between Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain has been rescheduled for April 18 after a string of Covid-19 cases within the OL squad.