FC Barcelona 4-1 Chelsea: Convincing first leg victory

What a result for Barça Women in this Champions League semi-final first leg. Today's 4-1 win against Chelsea Women gives them a good head start on aggregate with the second leg to come at Stamford Bridge in London on 27 April (kickoff 3.00pm CEST). A new record attendance was set for the Estadi Johan Cruyff too, as no fewer than 5750 spectators packed in to enjoy the game on this sunny Spring evening.

This was the third consecutive time the teams have met at this stage of the tournament, with Barça coming through victorious every time before, and a fifth final appearance in a row for the blaugranes is now well within reach. Former FC Barcelona players Bronze and Walsh were back on familiar territory, while Chelsea coach Bompastor is one of the few coaches to have beaten Barca in the competition, doing so with former club Lyon.

Penalty missed but Pajor with opener

Barça started well and the first shot came from Graham Hansen in the 7th minute. The resulting corner was headed towards goal by Paredes, and although played continued, VAR brought a handball to the attention of the referee who eventually signalled a penalty. Captain Alexia stepped up but Hampton saved her left foot effort close to the centre of the goal to keep the score goalless.

The blaugranes were being willed on by a big crowd of 5750 at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, which included men’s first team players Gavi and Lamine Yamal. The teams were somewhat cancelling each other out and apart from an Aitana low shot collected by Hampton on 26 minutes, the game had entered a lull period. However, the breakthrough came on 35 minutes, when the ball broke to Alexia in the middle of the pitch and she quickly turned and played a good ball through to Pajor, who finished across Hampton into the far left corner for her 35th goal of the season in all competitions (1-0, min 35).

No further goals before halftime, but both sides had chances to change the scoreline, first Graham Hansen with a left foot shot that whistled just wide of left upright one minute into added time, before Chelsea’s Beever-Jones tested Cata Coll from a free kick that she pushed away for a corner just before the break.

Pina off the bench to press home the advantage

The match continued to be evenly poised after the restart, with both sides probing but not creating any clear cut chances of note. It took until the 70th minute when substitute Pina was perfectly placed in the penalty area to steer in Batlle’s cross to make it 2-0 after a good move down the right by the blaugranes.

However, Chelsea showed their character, another substitute Macario doing well to spread the ball to left back Baltimore, who rifled the ball into the far right corner past Cata Coll (2-1, min. 74). Another goal was needed to ensure a decent second leg advantage and despite Hampton saving a Pina shot on 78 minutes, the La Masia player was to play a pivotal role in what was left of the match. First it was her corner from the left that was headed in on the run at the far post by Paredes to restore the two goal lead (3-1, min 82).

Both coaches then made changes with the clock ticking down, but Pina still had more to say in the game, as she picked up the ball in the left channel, played a lovely one-two with Alexia – her second assist of the game – before finishing low inside the left hand post (min 90) to round-off a convincing first leg victory. Final score 4-1 and a healthy advantage to take to the return leg in a week’s time.

MATCH STATS

Barça 4
Chelsea 1

Barça: Cata Coll, Paredes, María León (Engen, min 46), Paralluelo (Vicky, min 89), Graham (Pina, min 66), Alexia, Patri, Aitana, Pajor, O. Batlle and Brugts (Rolfö, min 81)
Chelsea: Hampton, Bronze, Bright, Björn (Girma, min 81), Baltimore, Walsh, Cuthbert, Kaneryd, Kaptein (Macario, min 61), Beever-Jones (Reiten, min 61) and Ramirez (Sjoeke Nüsken, min 88)

Goals: 1-0, Pajor (min 35); 2-0, Pina (min 70); 2-1, Baltimore (min 74); 3-1, Paredes (min 82); 4-1, Pina (min 90)

Referee: Katalin Kulcsár. Yellow card for Pina (min 77) from Barça and Ramirez (min 40) and Macario (min 72) from Chelsea.