Barcelona Femeni left Norway last night with a slender 2-1 lead in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The defending champions had a tough time playing against the Norwegian side, who showed proper organization in defense all through the game.
Despite dominating possession for larger spells of the game, Barca still found it hard to score and put the game beyond SK Brann heading into the second leg. However, Barcelona’s creativity eventually paid off when the team scored late in the second half to grab a single goal advantage in the clash.
Caroline Graham Hansen scored the opener in the 9th minute with a slightly defelcted shot. The Norwegian and Patri Guijarro exchanged passes from a corner kick before the former struck a shot that found the back of the net with the help of a slight deflection.
Barcelona kept creating goalscoring chances but failed to score, with Caroline Graham Hansen, Aitana Bonmati, and Mariona Caldentey all seeing their attempts on goal either saved by the goalkeeper, or veer wide off the post.
SK Brann got their only opportunity of the game when they broke free in attack in the 39th minute. A low cross across the face of goal evaded the Barcelona defense before the Norwegian side’s captain, Kyamme fired in from the far post.
Irene Paredes struck the post with the last kick of the first half after connecting with a long range freekick.
The half ended in a stalemate with both teams hoping for a breakthrough in the second half to take an advantage heading into the seccond leg in Spain.
The second half continued in similar fashion with the first half as Barcelona dominated proceedings and continued their search for a second goal.
On a day where the Blaugrana didn’t seem like their usual selves in front of goal, Salma Paralluelo came to the rescue when she scored a beautiful goal in the 72nd minute.
Aitana Bonmati drove through the opposition defense and slid an exquisite pass into the young forward. Salma turned beautifully to evade her marker before releasing a fierce left-footed shot into the bottom corner to restore Barcelona’s lead.
Aitana Bonmati came close to making it three for the champions but was denied by a brilliant save from the goalkeeper, who pushed the Spaniard’s effort against the crossbar.
The game ended 2-1 in favor of Barcelona, who will welcome the Norwegian outfit next week for the second leg of the fixture.
