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…
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