A dramatic comeback at Stamford Bridge earlier this evening sent Barcelona Femeni on the path to their fourth consecutive UEFA Women’s Champions League final. The Blaugrana went to London on the verge of elimination after suffering a 1-0 loss at the hands of Chelsea in the first leg.
The defending champions needed two unreplied goals to get past Chelsea to secure their qualification to the finals. At the end of the game, Barca had succeeded in their quest and had bested Chelsea in the final in Bilbao.
Barcelona started the game with the intention of getting back into the tie as early as possible. However, it took the Catalan giants 25 minutes to open the scoring and set the stage for a dramatic second leg encounter.
Aitana Bonmati received the ball on the edge of the box and took two nifty touches to evade her marker and set herself up before firing a low shot on goal. The Ballon d’Or winner’s shot was guided past the goalkeeper via a slight deflection, giving Barcelona the lead in the first half and setting up a stalemate on aggregate.
Chelsea also attacked the Blaugrana in search of a goal to set the tie back in their favour. However, the Blues were unfortunate in front of goal and failed to find the back of the net..
The first half ended 1-0 with Barcelona ahead at Staa sold out Stamford Bridge.
Barcelona started the second hald in similar fashion to the first in an attempt to get an early goal to tilt the scoreline in their favour. A well-structured defense from Chelsea denied the Spanish side a second goal to put them ahead in the tie.
Chelsea’s undoing started in the 59th minute when defender Kadeisha Buchanan got sent off for a foul on Patri Guijarro. The defender was shown the dreaded red card after receiving a second yellow, minutes after being shown her first yellow card.
The red card forced Chelsea to make a tactical adjustment, which resulted in Barcelona getting more chances in attack. Barcelona’s comeback mission was complete when Aitana Bonmati was fouled in the area in the 73rd minute.
The penalty was confirmed after VAR review and Fridolina Rolfo stepped up and put Barcelona ahead from the spot. The Swede sent Hannah Hampton the wrong way with a left-footed strike securing the win for Barcelona.
Both sides created chances towards the end of the game but neither of them could find the back of the net as Barcelona held on to their 2-0 win to book their spot in the final in Bilbao.
