MY ACCOUNT
Chelsea stopped Barcelona winning a home match for the first time in four years but fell short of a place in the Women’s Champions League final.
Guro Reiten’s second-half goal at the Camp Nou secured a 1-1 draw for Emma Hayes’ side and they pushed for a winner on the night but it was the Catalans who claimed a 2-1 victory on aggregate.
Barcelona have won 60 straight domestic matches at home dating back to February 2019, while the last time they did not win a Champions League match on home soil was against Lyonin 2018.
Going into the clash having lost the home leg meant Hayes’ side, who were beaten 4-0 by Barca in their maiden final two years ago, faced a majorly uphill battle.
They were again without first-choice centre-back pairing Millie Bright and Kadeisha Buchanan as well as Fran Kirby, while England defender Lucy Bronze missed out for Barcelona following knee surgery.
But Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas was on the bench for the hosts after 10 months out injured.
Barca thought they had scored in the teighth minute as Chelsea’s defence hesitated but Caroline Graham Hansen handled the cross before poking the ball home.
For the rest of the first half the Catalans had the majority of possession and chances without really threatening to add to their lead, with Asisat Oshoala and Maria Caldentey firing over from good openings.
Chelsea were just looking like they might offer some threat up front in the early stages of the second half when the hosts took the lead after 64 minutes.
The influential Aitana Bonmati carried the ball to the edge of the box and slipped it to Graham Hansen, who scored her second goal of the tie despite the best efforts of Jess Carter on the line.
If that appeared to have ended the tie, Chelsea clawed their way back into it just three minutes later.
A fine tackle from Erin Cuthbert ended a Barca attack and Melanie Leupolz fed Sam Kerr, whose shot was saved by Sandra Panos — only for Reiten to smash the ball in from the edge of the box.
Kerr had a couple of half openings as the visitors sought an unlikely winner but the clear chance did not come and Ann-Katrin Berger produced a fine save from Geyse to earn a draw on the night.
Barcelona move through to a third straight final, where they will take on Arsenal or Wolfsburg in Eindhoven.
