Key events
17 min: Paralluelo puts in a great ball for Pajor with the outside of her left boot that evades several Chelsea defenders but the flag goes up on the Polish striker.
16 min: León loses the ball and Chelsea attempt a cross in the box but it is headed away. The Blues have a bit of rhythm now after that save but can they keep the ball and create some chances while on top?
14 min: Barcelona are being urged on by their fans after that miss but Putellas certainly looks a bit shocked.
Hampton saves Putellas’s penalty!
Wow! Putellas steps up with her hands on her hips to wait for the whistle. She takes her shot and Hampton dives to her left, her legs saving the shot before Beever-Jones clears it away. It is a poor shot that is almost straight down the middle. Huge moment for Chelsea!
10 min: VAR check. That second ball from the corner hit Björn’s hand and her arm was definitely out in an unnatural position. No player appealed for it but the referee is going to take a look at the screen … and she gives it. Barcelona have the chance to go up early in this tie.
7 min: Chance! Graham Hansen’s shot is deflected just wide! The resulting corner leads to another which Paredes heads towards goal. Hampton makes the save though she looks quite shocked that she had to.
6 min: Ramírez surges forward on the left flank and finds Beever-Jones but the winger’s touch is too heavy and Coll collects.
4 min: Graham Hansen tries to cut in on the right but Baltimore is able to crowd her out. The ball come back through the middle and Guijarro goes for goal. It’s deflected off of Björn who tries to make the block but Hampton dives down and is quick to make the save.
2 min: Bonmatí surges forward but her former teammate Bronze gets on the ball and kicks it out for a throw-in.
Kick-off: Barcelona 0-0 Chelsea
Both sets of players take a knee before Barcelona get us underway. The hosts in their classic red and blue kits while Chelsea don their cream away kits.
The teams are out of the tunnel at the Estadi Johan Cruyff and the Champions League anthem blares out. We are moments away from kick-off!
Here is Romeu on his selection of Graham Hansen in the starting XI, who missed training on Saturday due to illness:
I was in constant contact with Caroline Graham Hansen before picking her for this match. She had a better night in terms of rest and sleep and, between her, the doctor and I, we were clear that she could start.
The first leg of the second semi-final was contested between Arsenal and Lyon yesterday with Melchie Dumornay scoring an 82nd-minute goal to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal are hoping to reach their first Champions League final since they won the competition in 2007 and will have their work cut out for them in France against the eight-time champions.
Bompastor was also just asked about James in her pre-match interview, who misses out due to injury:
A really important player, you know that. She is really talented. One of those players who can make a big difference when she is on the pitch but we need to adapt. She is not with us and I have a lot of quality in the squad so hopefully it will be enough for us to win.
James pulled out of the England squad after sustaining a hamstring problem in the 5-0 Nations League win over Belgium.
Here is what both head coaches had to say in their pre-match press conference.
Sonia Bompastor:
Barcelona have a lot of experience, a lot of talent in the squad I was watching before our [quarter-final second leg against Man City], their game against Wolfsburg, it will be again a tough challenge. But in football everything is possible. So I will bring all the confidence we need to go into those two games.
It’s a huge game. We are really excited. We’ve had all week to prepare for the match, which was really good to work on the gameplan. We feel ready to go. Really excited. We are playing one of the best teams, if not the best team, in Europe. As players, but also as managers, we want to be involved in these games.
Pere Romeu:
I think it’s going to be a really tough tie. I think Chelsea are a team who feel comfortable attacking at pace. They feel comfortable attacking on the flanks with players who get past their marker and they get numbers in the box. They feel comfortable out of possession. They’re great at winning the ball back infield and hitting teams on the counter with Mayra [Ramírez] and others who are great at carrying the ball forward and who attack space well.
I think this means we’ll have a knockout that’ll feel long, a tie in which we’ll try and play well out of possession, to try and win the ball back and hit Chelsea on the counter, and when in possession we’ll try and attack quickly and try and get down the flanks quickly. I think it’ll be a tough and difficult tie.
Let’s take a look back at everytime Chelsea have fallen to Barcelona in this competition.
First, it was the 2020-21 final where the Blues were absolutely blitzed 4-0. An own goal from Melanie Leupolz in the first minute opened the floodgates for Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí and Caroline Graham Hansen to score in the first half.
Then in the 2022-23 semi-finals, Barcelona took a 1-0 lead from Stamford Bridge before getting the job done at home, winning 2-1 on aggregate.
Last season’s semi-finals saw Chelsea take a stunning victory away from home thanks to an Erin Cuthbert goal but the Blues fell 2-0 in the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Barcelona’s goal threat comes from all over the pitch, but Ewa Pajor has certainly been the standout with 35 goals and counting in her debut season at the club. To compare, Chelsea’s top scorer is Aggie Beever-Jones who has netted 12 goals this season.
The 2023 and 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, Aitana Bonmatí, says Barcelona have a “good rivalry, no bad things” had high praise for Chelsea ahead of the tie.
It’s a big rivalry between us, because over the last four or five years we [have been] playing a lot of games, but it’s a good rivalry, no bad things.
In these games [against Chelsea] I always say that we can enjoy the football because we have in front of us a good opponent that makes us be better and better and better. This is the moment of the season we all enjoy – big games. It’s these games that make us great and that show us the level where we want to get to.
Chelsea may have never been able to get past Barcelona in this competition before but Sonia Bompastor has. Her Lyon side beat Barcelona in the 2022 Champions League final 3-1. Here is Tom Garry on Chelsea’s evolution under their new head coach:
Since Bompastor’s arrival, when few imagined anybody could match the dominance Hayes oversaw, Chelsea have lost only once, and some might say even that does not count, given it was in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City which they fought back to win on aggregate.
The trophy the club want above all else, though, is the continent’s top prize. Standing between them and what would be only a second appearance in the final by a British club since 2007 are an in-form Barcelona, who have scored 11 goals in their past two matches and were 10-2 aggregate winners over Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals.
Team news
Barcelona (4-3-3): Coll; Battle, Paredes, León, Brugts; Bonmatí, Guijarro, Putellas; Graham Hansen, Pajor, Paralluelo
Subs: Font, Roebuck, Fernàndez, Torrejón, Pina, Rolfö, López, Engen, Caño, Schertenleib
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Hampton; Bronze, Björn, Bright, Baltimore; Walsh, Cuthbert; Rytting Kaneryd, Kaptein, Beever-Jones; Ramírez
Subs: Spencer, Cox, Nüsken, Macario, Reiten, Lawrence, Girma, Charles, Hamano, Mpomé, Jean-François, Brown
Referee: Katalin Kulcsar (Hungary)
Preamble
Chelsea have been flying in this season in Sonia Bompastor’s debut season at the helm. They have already won the League Cup and are in the FA Cup final. One hand is on the WSL title – their possible sixth in a row – and they are in the Champions League semi-finals. A historic quadruple is on the table.
Enter Barcelona. The Catalan club are the team to beat in Europe, having won the Champions League in three of the previous four seasons. Chelsea, led by Emma Hayes up until this season, have been knocked out of this competition by Barcelona in three of the last four seasons. The Blues have never beat Barcelona in the knockout stages of Europe’s elite club competition. Will this finally be their time?
Join me for the first leg of this Champions League semi-final at the Estadi Johan Cruyff with kick-off at 5pm BST/6pm CEST. And, as always, if you have any thoughts, predictions, questions, complaints or musings you want to share, then feel free to send me an email.
