Baltimore and Macario seize treble chance for Chelsea

Unflustered, unrivalled and unbeaten. Sonia Bompastor's Chelsea side were at their clinical best as they completed a 30-game unbeaten domestic treble with a win over Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

- Suzanne Wrack

For the most part, United weren't that bad; Chelsea were just better when it mattered most, again and again and again, two goals from Sandy Baltimore, arguably the Blues' player of the season, sandwiching Catarina Macario's headed effort.

There were high expectations for the first sold-out Wembley Women's FA Cup final on the 10th anniversary of the first one at the national stadium. The fact that only 74,412 filed into the ground will be a small talking point, ticket prices not yet high enough for fans to prioritise it, and women's team fanbases not quite large enough for the FA to be able to stop selling tickets far in advance of the teams in the final being confirmed, but these are changes that are creeping closer.

Ella Toone was a surprise omission from the United starting XI after she was named the club's player of the season for a second consecutive year. Wembley has been a fertile hunting ground for the midfielder, who scored the opening goal in the final of the 2022 Euros, England's first in the 2023 Finalissima and United's first in their 4-0 rout of Tottenham in last year's FA Cup final, all at Wembley.

Instead, Dominique Janssen joined Hinata Miyazawa and Grace Clinton in midfield, the move a tactical one confirmed Marc Skinner after, while Aoife Mannion slotted in at the back in the absence of injured Jayde Riviere.