Chelsea striker Sam Kerr made a huge impact versus Paris FC in the Women’s Champions League despite reportedly not being fully fit.

The Australia forward moved within two points of Group D leaders BK Hacken after the Blues won 4-1 at Stamford Bridge thanks to a hat-trick from the attacker.

This summer, during the Women’s World Cup, Kerr had a calf injury. She remarked on Wednesday that she was “only on the way back up now” as she worked through the “process” of getting back to full match fitness.

However, Kerr showed no signs of rustiness on Thursday as she headed out to a standing ovation halfway through the second half after capping her hat-trick with a daring lob from outside the area.

“Well, if that’s her at 80% – or whatever she is – I’ll take that every week,” manager Emma Hayes remarked following the game.

“That’s not too horrible. I’m eagerly awaiting the 100% version.”

Everywhere Kerr has played, she has scored a lot of goals, and she still does well when Chelsea plays on a major platform. She had so many hat-tricks that she was delighted to gift the match ball to a small spectator.

After the third goal, fans at Stamford Bridge expected her to perform her signature backflip, but instead, she slid on her knees toward them and picked up the Chelsea badge from her blouse.

“I believed I was lucky to score a hat-trick with my first touch, but I decided to try the lob after observing [the goalkeeper] back-pedalling. To be honest, I don’t mind those ones.” Kerr informed Dazn.

“I’m really almost at 100% now. All I need is more games, more training, and more consistency. Your lack of frequent training has made this last block [of fixtures] challenging. Though I’m not quite there yet, I’m getting fairly close.”

“Kerr and Kirby together is terrifying.”
Emma Hayes
Chelsea’s first-half performance irritated Emma Hayes, but she acknowledged that the substitutions had an impact.
The threat posed by Kerr is so enormous that Sandrine Soubeyrand, the manager of Paris, was questioned if she had thought of any special measures to cope with her in particular.

Making plans specifically for people is not my usual style. Because there are so many excellent players at Chelsea, planning for just one player will result in numerous plans being made, the woman stated.

“Kerr did a fantastic job tonight. She may have had four shots, of which three were converted.”

Although her management was not shocked by her hat-trick, the Chelsea striker is the first player in this season’s group stage to score three or more goals.

“I thought she would score three goals tonight. Hayes remarked, “I said it in the dressing room beforehand.

“She’s not quite at the top of the game by her standards, but nobody puts the ball in the net quite like her.” She uses her moments with such awareness and decisiveness. She played great center forward to score her third goal.”

England midfielder Fran Kirby, who entered as a replacement and is attempting to regain full fitness after missing the majority of 2023 due to a knee injury, also had an impact on Kerr’s two goals in the second half.

Gilly Flaherty, a former Chelsea defender, praised Kirby’s influence and called Kerr “clinical” on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Kirby’s arrival altered the course of the match, particularly given her connection to Sam Kerr. In the second half, they appeared to be a different team,” Flaherty remarked.

“The combination of Sam Kerr and Fran Kirby… to be able to call on such a pairing is a frightening prospect for any opposition,” continued Tanya Oxtoby, the manager of Northern Ireland.

“Chelsea just have more quality and have been more clinical than Paris FC.”

Hayes stated that Kirby had constant discussions about how to limit her minutes with England manager Sarina Wiegman, even though Kirby was forced to miss the World Cup.

“I rated Paris FC and I felt there was a lot of work to do out of possession which, over a 90-minute period, I felt would be too much for Fran [Kirby],” Hayes said.

“I told Sarina this morning how crucial it is that we maintain her healthy for Chelsea and England. She always wants to play, but I thought that was the ideal cameo for her.

“The group required it. In the first half, I thought we weren’t close enough to Sam Kerr. We were careless, and I believe the number of games we played eventually got to us. People may not realize how difficult it is to continue doing this.

In that performance, we unearthed something. However, tonight’s strength came from the bench.”