Sjoeke Nusken scored her second brace in as many games as Chelsea beat Ajax 3-0 in the first leg of their Women’s Champions League quarter-final.

Emma Hayes’ side continued their search for European glory as they flexed their attacking pedigree at Johan Cruijff ArenA.

Lauren James was among the scorers again before summer signing Nusken was on hand twice to extend their advantage ahead of the return leg at Stamford Bridge later this month.

Chelsea took the lead after 19 minutes. James and Nusken, who had starred in the Blues’ 3-1 win over Arsenal in the Women’s Super League last week, combined again.

Nusken tried to thread a ball through and after it rebounded off two Ajax players, James rounded the keeper to score.

The Blues thought they had doubled the lead through Guro Reiten but were denied after a lengthy VAR check.

James showed off her technical ability to pick out Reiten in the box but her strike took a nick off the offside Nusken as Chelsea were left frustrated.

Reiten had impressed down the left flank all night and made another dangerous run before Chelsea doubled their lead.

The Norwegian winger marauded forward before she delivered an inch-perfect cross to the surging Nusken. The versatile German did not think twice before she finished first time, highlighting Chelsea’s ruthlessness in front of goal and strengthening their foothold in the tie.

The Blues had dominated up to this point. They came out in the second half playing at the same tempo and enjoyed long spells of possession before Nusken missed the chance to put them 3-0 up.

A pinged pass was made into the box and after Reiten did well to beat her marker in the air and knock it down, Nusken leant back too far before powering her strike well over the bar.

Catarina Macario’s impact was noticed straight away off the bench as she assisted the third.

The pacey wide player whipped a cross from the right into the path of Nusken who was alert in the box, and she rose highest and powered a header home.

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery knows his side survived a scare in their goalless draw at Ajax in their last-16 Europa Conference League first-leg tie.

Villa were second best throughout the night at the Johan Cruijff ArenA but the Dutch giants, led by England international Jordan Henderson, could not make their advantage count as it ended 0-0.

But Emery’s men will now be confident of winning next week’s second leg at Villa Park, where they are so strong, and booking their spot in the quarter-finals.

“It is always difficult to play away in Europe, here you see the atmosphere they have,” he said.

“It was a very high level match, we are taking experiences in Europe and we can feel favourites but it’s very difficult and if you’re showing in other matches in Europa League or the Europa Conference League you can see some big surprises.

“I’m happy, we didn’t play well, we didn’t control the game like we prepared and like we usually do but I accept that as well.

“They worked and they were very intense in the tactical play. They were winning more than us in some moments in the field and they deserve more.

“I’m happy because I knew before the difficulties we were going to face, the players are a little bit upset because they were not feeling comfortable but to compete is the most important.

“For me now it’s very important this result is open for next week and now we will try to do something different and try to respect them, because now we know them better.

“My message before was the same. At Villa Park we need our moment next week and try to play and be more successful than today in our idea.

“We didn’t deserve more than we got tonight.”

Villa were reliant on goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to produce an important save in the second half and were unable to produce their dynamic attacking football at the other end.

Both sides were reduced to 10 men in the final 10 minutes as Ezri Konsa was harshly sent off for two yellow cards, with Tristan Gooijer following for the hosts moments later.

Ajax are nothing like the side that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League five years ago and are labouring in fifth in the Eredivisie.

They signed Henderson in the January transfer window to try and provide some experience and coach John van ‘t Schip says he is already delivering and could still do a job for England.

“He is a real professional, he is a leader, I think you can see it on the pitch, the boys around him feel that and expect that.

“He had a difficult start because he came out of Saudi Arabia and didn’t play for a month and he wasn’t happy. He immediately found his pleasure back in training and playing games.

“At first he maybe didn’t get the results he wanted but now clearly you can see he is very important, not only on the pitch but also off the pitch, talking about things that can improve the whole environment.

“We have seen him play today and against PSV, two big games, then for sure and I think Southgate knows very well what he can get from Jordan.”

Aston Villa survived a testing assignment at Ajax as they drew 0-0 in the first leg of the Europa Conference League last-16 in Amsterdam.

Villa were second best throughout the night at the Johan Cruijff Arena but the Dutch giants, led by England international Jordan Henderson, could not make their advantage count as it ended goalless.

They were reliant on goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to produce an important save and were unable to produce their dynamic attacking football at the other end.

Both sides were reduced to 10 men in the final 10 minutes as Ezri Konsa was harshly sent off for two yellow cards, with Tristian Gooijer following for the hosts moments later.

But Unai Emery’s men will now be confident of winning in next week’s second leg at Villa Park, where they are so strong, and booking their spot in the quarter-finals.

With a crunch game in the race for the Premier League top four against Tottenham to come on Sunday, Emery made several changes to his side, with John McGinn and Leon Bailey among those dropping out.

One of the replacements, Moussa Diaby, almost made an early impact when he created space for himself only to shoot straight at Ajax goalkeeper Diant Ramaj.

Ajax are nothing like the side that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League five years ago and are labouring in fifth in the Dutch Eredivisie.

But they gave the Villa the run around in a first half where Emery’s men were pegged back and lucky to survive.

Henderson gave them a scare on the half-hour when he whipped a 25-yard free-kick over Martinez’s crossbar before the home side’s big chance six minutes later.

Jorrel Hato brought the ball out of defence and played in Brian Brobbey with a defence-splitting pass, but the Netherlands international shot into the side-netting as he closed in on goal.

Villa did not improve much after the break and brought on McGinn and Bailey to try and get control of the game.

But they were reliant on Martinez to keep them level in the 68th minute as the World Cup winner produced a smart stop to keep out Kenneth Taylor’s effort from Borna Sosa’s cut back.

Villa’s task looked like getting harder after Konsa had to walk for a second yellow card when it looked like he was being fouled.

But Gooijer picked up his second booking moments later and Villa were able to see the game out unscathed.