Barcelona hold a commanding position in their Women’s Champions League semi-final against Chelsea ahead of next Sunday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge after demonstrating their quality in an emphatic 4-1 first-leg victory.
Chelsea are bidding to reach the European final for only the second time and could still win a quadruple of major trophies this term in Sonia Bompastor’s first season in charge, but they will now require an unlikely-looking comeback and the performance of their lives if they are to have any chance of overturning this deficit in London.
The scoreline could have been worse for Chelsea but for Hannah Hampton’s early penalty save, at a time when the tie was level at 0-0, when the former Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas was denied from the spot. That kept the home side at bay but not for long, with Putellas classily slipping a through ball into the path of Ewa Pajor for the Poland striker to open the scoring.
Chelsea improved defensively after the break but were undone by a masterful team goal as Barcelona made it 2-0 with a move that involved 18 passes before substitute Clàudia Pina turned in from inside the six-yard box. Pina herself had played the 13th pass of Barcelona’s flowing move from deep inside her own half before sprinting upfield to turn home the cross.
Sandy Baltimore’s crisp strike into the far corner with 16 minutes remaining offered Bompastor’s team a glimmer of hope to bring the scoreline back to 2-1, but a far-post header from an unmarked Irene Paredes restored Barcelona’s two-goal advantage soon after. Pina then struck again from close range in the 90th minute to severely hamper Chelsea’s hopes for the second leg, and make the hosts’ advantage on the scoreboard more accurately reflect their dominance.
The Norway winger Caroline Graham Hansen, who had been a doubt for this first leg after missing Saturday’s Barcelona training session because of illness, was named amongst the starting side and began the game impressively, giving the Chelsea left-back Baltimore plenty to think about in the early stages. Graham Hansen saw a short deflected wide, after the hosts’ holding midfielder Patricia Guijarro had seen a low effort deflected into the arms of Hampton, while Chelsea struggled to hold onto the ball long enough to mount many meaningful attacks in the opening exchanges.
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Barcelona’s early pressure eventually led to a penalty when Nathalie Björn handled Paredes’s header and the Hungarian referee Katalin Kulcsár correctly awarded the spot-kick after consulting with the screen after a VAR check. Putellas opted to send her strike straight down the middle and the England goalkeeper Hampton, who had dived slightly to Putellas’ right, made the save comfortably with her feet.
That proved to be one of the only moments of celebration for the travelling Chelsea fans and ultimately this was a game which highlighted Barcelona’s superior skill as they appear to be on course to knock Chelsea out at the semi-final stage of this competition for the third straight season.