FC Barcelona Reach Fourth UEFA Women’s Champions League Final In Five Seasons
In front of a crowd of 72,262 at Camp Nou, the third-largest in the competition’s history, FC Barcelona Femení defeated English champions Chelsea Women to reach the final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the fourth time in the past five seasons where they will be overwhelming favorites to lift a second European title.
After winning the first leg in London on Sunday, the Spanish champions completed the job, with a 1-1 draw, to record their 80th consecutive home match without defeat, a remarkable record stretching back to February 13, 2019. However, Barcelona had won all of those previous 79 matches and thus became the first side since Sporting Huelva to avoid defeat away to FC Barcelona in over four years.
Nonetheless, the 1-1 draw was enough for Barcelona to progress to another UEFA Women’s Champions League final. In eliminating the only other side remaining in this season’s competition who had won the men’s Champions League, FC Barcelona have also ensured they continue to be the only club side in Europe to win the men’s and women’s Champions League.
The match was also notable for the return to the substitute’s bench of the two-time Ballon D’Or winner Alexia Putellas. The reigning world and European player of the year had not tasted competitive action for 300 days due to a rupture of her anterior cruciate ligament which led her to miss the UEFA Women’s Euro and the entirety of the season so far. It had been hoped she would make a late cameo but the tightness of the overall match situation meant she was not risked at the end of the game.
In a tentative first half, in which neither side registered a shot on target, Barcelona once more dominated possession with Chelsea happy to sit back to contain them. Striker Asisat Oshoala and Mariona Caldentey both wasted good opening by blazings high over the bar.
With Chelsea requiring a goal to stay in the competition, the game became more stretched in the second half. This played into the hands of Barcelona who began to hit Chelsea on the counter attack, and after 62 minutes, the match-winner in the first leg, Norwegian Caroline Graham Hansen scored again to double the Catalan’s advantage. However, there was an immediate riposte from the English champions four minutes later when Sam Kerr broke free to force the first save from the Barcelona goalkeeper, Sandra Paños, only for the ball to fall to Guro Reiten, who swept the ball home.
Ultimately, despite a late flurry of half-chances for both sides, it was not enough for the English champions who went out of the competition 2-1 on aggregate. Even before their first leg defeat, Chelsea faced a formidable task. The only reverse FC Barcelona had suffered this season was in an inconsequential group stage defeat to FC Bayern in December. The Catalan side had not lost a two-leg home and away European tie since going out to Olympique Lyonnais at the quarter-final stage in March 2018.
Lyon were also Barcelona’s nemeses in two of their previous Champions League finals in 2019 and 2022, so their elimination this season by Chelsea in the previous round has seemingly left the field clear for the Spanish champions. FC Barcelona had won the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2021 by defeating Chelsea 4-0 in Gothenburg, a match played behind closed doors due to Covid-19 restrictions.
For Chelsea, the English champions for the past three seasons, the wait for a European women’s title goes on after their third semi-final defeat in six seasons. Coached by the only female manager remaining in the competition, their elimination means Lyon’s, Sonia Bompastor is still the only woman to coach a team to victory in the UEFA Champions League since the competition was re-branded in 2009.
Chelsea can turn their attentions back to retaining their two domestic titles. In a four-horse race with Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal, they alone know the destiny of the English championship is in their own hands as victory in their last six games will ensure a fourth successive Women’s Super League title. They are also through to the Women’s FA Cup final against Manchester United on May 14.
FC Barcelona will play the winners of the second semi-final between two former champions, Arsenal and VfL Wolfsburg. Following a 2-2 draw in the first leg, the winners of Monday’s return match in London will play the Spanish champions in the 22nd UEFA Women’s Champions League final to be played in Eindhoven on June 3.
