Barcelona have reached a third straight Women’s Champions League final after seeing off Chelsea in a 2-1 aggregate win in the semi-final, with a 1-1 draw in front of 72,000 fans at Camp Nou on Thursday night enough to get the job done.
Caroline Graham Hansen’s goals in either leg proved to be the difference in the tie. Fellow Norwegian Guro Reiten pulled one back for Chelsea that made the second leg competitive until the end, but the better team over 180 minutes probably went through in the end.
Chelsea set up with five at the back, seemingly with the intention of containing a Barcelona side they knew would dominate possession and trying to mount counter attacks when possible.
It wasn’t exactly a rip-roaring first half as a result of the visitors resolutely sticking to their defensive duties, but the best chances did unsurprisingly go the way of Barça.
An early goal from Graham Hansen was ruled out after the Norwegian was seen to have initially controlled the ball with her arm.
Aitana Bonmati was on song and nearly caught out Ann-Katrin Berger with a cross from the right that the Chelsea goalkeeper had to claw away. Bonmati was at the heart of everything good about the hosts and both she and Mariona Caldentey had other chances to break the deadlock. Asisat Oshoala also couldn’t put a good early chance on target.
Chelsea seemed to grow into the game as the first half drew to a close, even getting the ball into a good position in the Barcelona penalty area. But the chance agonisingly went begging when Jessie Fleming couldn’t bring the ball under control in the key moment.
When the second half began, the game followed a similar pattern to the first. Barcelona had control of the ball and made chance – Oshoala was denied by a block after good work from Patri Guijarro and Graham Hansen fired over, while Chelsea were starting to ask more questions.
Barcelona taking the lead on the night was pretty much inevitable and it was fitting that Bonmati made it, driving into the box before laying off to Graham Hansen to her right. The Norwegian’s shot beat Berger and, although Jess Carter got a substantial touch on it on the line, nestled in the corner.
But that didn’t kill the tie as the tens of thousands of home fans would have hoped, given that Reiten almost immediately halved the aggregate lead. Barça appealed for a free-kick when Erin Cuthbert slid in on Caldentey, but Chelsea wasted little time in putting Sam Kerr through. That attempt was smothered by Sandra Panos and Reiten was on hand to smash in the rebound.
Chelsea sensed an opportunity after that and started to be more and more adventurous. Kerr forced a crucial block from Irene Paredes and the game threatened to be quite end to end as the Blues searched for a second goal and Barça looked to exploit the spaces opening up.
Substitute Salma Paralluelo had a chance to kill the tie late on, seeing her low strike expertly turned away by Berger and there were no last ditch heroics from Chelsea like there had been against Lyon in the previous round.
GK: Sandra Panos – 6/10 – Unfortunate that a top save to deny Kerr was turned in by Reiten on the rebound. Not massively busy.
RB: Marta Torrejon (c) – 7/10 – Wouldn’t have started until Lucy Bronze was ruled out but did well.
CB: Irene Paredes – 7/10 – Made a really important block to deny Kerr soon after Chelsea scored.
CB: Mapi Leon – 7/10 – Her composure shone when Chelsea started to build some momentum.
LB: Fridolina Rolfo – 5/10 – Has had far better games than this one.
CM: Aitana Bonmati – 9/10 – At the heart of everything good about Barcelona. Made the goal and countless other opportunities.
CM: Keira Walsh – 7/10 – Her withdrawal after an hour opened up more spaces for Chelsea, highlighting her importance prior to that.
CM: Patri Guijarro – 7/10 – Made things happen when she got forward into the inside left channel.
RW: Caroline Graham Hansen – 8/10 – Gave Chelsea all kinds of problems to deal with and had the ball in the net twice, although only one counted.
ST: Asisat Oshoala – 6/10 – Not able to take the chances that went her way.
LW: Mariona Caldentey – 7/10 – Worked well in tandem with Patri.
Substitutes
SUB: Salma Paralluelo (60′ for Oshoala) – 6/10
SUB: Ingrid Engen (60′ for Walsh) – 6/10
SUB: Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic (73′ for Torrejon) – 6/10
SUB: Geyse (84′ for Bonmati) – 6/10
Manager
Jonatan Giraldez – 7/10 – Business as usual.
GK: Ann-Katrin Berger – 7/10 – Made a few saves that kept Chelsea competitive.
RB: Eve Perisset – 7/10 – Engaged in a good battle with Caldentey.
CB: Jess Carter – 6/10 – Made a couple of mistakes but never let it get her down and equally made a few important blocks.
CB: Maren Mjelde – 7/10 – Her return to regular action has been impressive.
CB: Magdalena Eriksson (c) – 7/10 – Decent in the air and used the ball well on the floor.
LB: Niamh Charles – 6/10 – Had her hands full with Graham Hansen.
CM: Jessie Fleming – 6/10 – Lacked quality in the final third more than once but worked hard to get into those positions.
CM: Melanie Leupolz – 8/10 – Worked the opening for Reiten’s equaliser well and did a disciplined job on the defensive side of the ball.
CM: Erin Cuthbert – 8/10 – Won the ball back with a crunching tackle that eventually led to the Chelsea goal. Full of tireless running.
ST: Sam Kerr – 7/10 – Spent a lot of time in the first half very isolated but her increased involvement directly correlated with Chelsea improving.
ST: Guro Reiten – 8/10 – Once again, Chelsea’s most consistent attacking threat. Somewhat surprising to see her withdrawn when she was.
Substitutes
SUB: Pernille Harder (76′ for Fleming) – 6/10
SUB: Lauren James (76′ for Reiten) – 6/10
SUB: Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (81′ for Perisset) – N/A
Manager
Emma Hayes – 8/10 – Set up her team to contain Barcelona and attack when possible. It was close to working because the hosts found it harder to close out the tie than they would have expected.
Player of the match – Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)
Credit: 90min.com
