Chelsea's Kerr feeling back to her best after Champions League double

Sam Kerr revealed she feels back to 100% but insisted she will take her return slowly after scoring a brace in Chelsea's 6-0 rout of St. Polten in the Champions League. 

Kerr marked her first competitive start for the Blues in 692 days with two second-half goals at NV ARENA as Chelsea moved up to second in the league phase standings. 

Catarina Macario also starred for Sonia Bompastor's side with a double of her own, while Wieke Kaptein's opener and a Lisa Ebert own-goal completed the thrashing. 

It's been a long road for Kerr, who sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in January last year, and she has slowly been integrated back into the first-team squad this season. 

She has made seven appearances in the Women's Super League this season, all coming from the bench, but the Australian was happy with how she performed on Tuesday. 

"Of course, I prefer to play more minutes. When you come on for 20 minutes, it's a bit hectic, there are a lot of subs, and it can be a bit wishy-washy," Kerr told Disney+.

"I feel like today was good. I had a few chances. I'm just happy to be back out here playing in the Champions League again with an amazing team. I'm relishing every moment."

Kerr ended the game with team-high totals for shots (11), shots on target (five) and touches in the opposition box (18), while her goal also saw Chelsea make history in the Champions League. 

"I feel 100%, but I was out for a while, so I have to build myself up," Kerr added.

"Today was a good set, right? Getting some good minutes in the national team was good. I'm definitely fit enough, it's just about getting miles in the legs now. I'm ready to go."

Bompastor was also pleased with the overall display from Chelsea, but conceded that her team should have been in a more comfortable position heading into half-time. 

The Blues boss had called upon her players to be more clinical in the final third ahead of kick-off, but were restricted to just two goals, despite registering 15 shots at Carina Schluter's net, seven of which were on target. 

Chelsea did improve after the break, ending the contest with a huge expected goals (xG) tally of 5.39 from their 43 shots, but Bompastor is wanting to see improvements in that area before their upcoming WSL clash with Liverpool. 

"Listen, we were able to score the first goal early on in the game. I think it always helps, and I probably would've liked the team to score the goals a little bit earlier," she said.

"When you analyse the performance, it was a great performance. We scored some great goals and overall it was very positive.

"I think we had a clear game plan coming into the game. We spoke a lot about being patient, moving the ball to one side to the other side to open up spaces.

"I think we had most of the time control of the ball. I think we were quite good also at breaking lines, making runs in behind.

"I think we created good opportunities. In the first half, we could've shot from distance but in the second half, we scored some great goals."