Cankovic's heroics sees Chelsea cruise past Paris FC in Women's Champions League

Guro Reiten and Pernille Harder also on target as Blues make winning start to Group A campaign

Chelsea made a winning start to their Women's Champions League Group A campaign as Jelena Cankovic's hat-trick inspired a 4-0 victory over Paris FC on Wednesday evening.

The Blues, who are looking to reach the final for the third time in four years, were in dominant form from the start and took the lead through Cankovic in the 10th minute. The Serbian forward doubled her tally just before the half-hour mark, before Guro Reiten made it 3-0 with a stunning strike from outside the box.

Cankovic completed her hat-trick in the second half, tapping home from close range after good work from Pernille Harder. The victory moves Chelsea to the top of Group A, ahead of Real Madrid who beat Vllaznia 3-0 in the other game.

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes was delighted with her team's performance, saying: "I thought we were excellent tonight. We controlled the game from start to finish and created a lot of chances. It was a great start to our Champions League campaign."

Paris FC coach Sandrine Soubeyrand was disappointed with her team's performance, but praised Chelsea's quality.

"Chelsea are a great team and they showed their quality tonight," she said. "We didn't play our best game, but we will learn from this and come back stronger in the next match."

Chelsea will be back in action in the Women's Champions League on November 8, when they travel to face Vllaznia. Paris FC will host Real Madrid on the same day.