Nick Cushing believes Manchester City's League Cup final defeat to Chelsea will give his players fuel for their Women's Champions League quarter-final against the Blues.

Cushing is in interim charge after Gareth Taylor was sacked just days before Sunday's showpiece match, overseeing the Citizens' 2-1 loss in the League Cup final at Pride Park. 

But City's attention now turns to the European stage, with Cushing looking to build on their second-place finish in Group D behind holders Barcelona on goal difference. 

This will be just the second-ever Champions League tie between two English sides after Birmingham City eliminated Arsenal from the 2013-14 quarter-finals.

But this month has seen City already play four times, with a further four fixtures scheduled in March, the next three of which are all against Sonia Bompastor's side. 

"Of course, it is difficult to play this number of games," Cushing started. "You have a huge game that we just played on Saturday to an even bigger game tomorrow. 

"I think the team is motivated. The pain of losing the League Cup final, playing well and being in the game for all of it, I think that almost supersedes the tiredness.   

"And what I see is a group of players that are really hungry to get going again."

City have won just one of their last eight home games against Chelsea in all competitions (D3 L4), a 2-0 victory in the Women's Super League in March 2023. The most recent such meeting between the pair saw the Blues win 1-0 in last season's League Cup semi-final.

Cushing was in charge of the club the last time they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, and will be hoping to repeat the trick for the first time since 2017-18. 

The Citizens' most recent appearance in the final eight of the competition came in 2020-21, also under Cushing, when they were eliminated by Barcelona despite winning 2-1 in their home leg of that tie. 

Though City have dropped out of the top three in the WSL in recent weeks, Cushing believes there are solid foundations to build on, and said their latest setback against Chelsea has given his team extra momentum to exact revenge on the Blues on Wednesday. 

"When I say belief, there have been some incredible results this year. The team knows that they are a good team. We beat Barcelona here, the team beat Arsenal to get to the League Cup final that we just played too," Cushing added. 

"I think what I want is a team that embraces whoever they play. And in a game where they played so well in the first half, we should be 1-1 at least. And we do get level, we have the biggest chance after that. 

"When I say belief, I mean go on and win the game. There is a team in there that know they are good. They are together, but for me, it is about having that real belief that we can win trophies together. 

"And when we feel and see that, this team will consistently win. The team is in a good place. I actually think Saturday's result is almost fuel for this team because the training yesterday and the group I have just been with there, you can see the ambition that they have."

But if City are to progress, they will have to do so without Khadija Shaw, who could miss both legs against the Blues with a muscle injury picked up in the League Cup final. 

Japan international Aoba Fujino was also hurt in the final and will miss the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at least, Cushing confirmed. 

"Two significant players are missing," Cushing added. "But for us, these moments give opportunities to other players," Cushing said. 

"Both of them are muscle injuries ... the problem with these types of injuries is it is going to take a few days to even diagnose how long the problem is. I think they are significant."

Pushed on the chances of Shaw and Fujino being available for the second leg on March 27, Cushing said: "When you have muscle injuries, and you can't diagnose the timeframe, it's not going to be one you can turn around quickly."