Heading into a game against Barcelona Femeni whose qualification into the knockout stages had already been secured, Eintracht Frankfurt needed to defeat the Blaugrana to keep alive any hope of progressing to the next round. However, the German side’s hopes were crushed at the Estadi Johan Cryuff as Barcelona defeated them 2-0 in a fairly balanced encounter.
Frankfurt, in similar fashion to the first leg in Germany, put up a good fight against the title holders but eventually yielded to the pressure of the Catalan giants, conceding two goals in a tight affair. Kept at bay by a well organized Frankfurt side, Barcelona were not allowed the chance to go on their destructive spree as commonly seen this season.
The first clear chance of the game fell to the German team when Lucy Bronze lost the ball, resulting in a quick break for Frankfurt. Cata Coll rushed out of goal to clear the ball; however, the goalkeeper’s effort only went as far as Frankfurt’s forward Prashnika, who aimed for the goal with a lobbed shot. Paredes thwarted her effort, calmly stopping the ball in front of goal to keep the game level.
Barcelona then came close to scoring, but the goalkeeper saved Lucy Bronze’s header. The save resulted in a scramble in the box, with the loose ball falling to Patri Guijarro, who saw her half-volley fly directly into the keeper’s gloves.
In the 19th minute, Barcelona opened the scoring with an excellent shot from the edge of the box. Mariona Caldentey stole possession very high up the pitch and passed to the midfielder, who sent a low shot into the bottom corner of the post.
Although, Barcelona kept possession of the ball for the larger part of the remainder of the half, the score remained 1-0 with arguably any clear goalscoring chances.
Barcelona started the second half strongly in a bid to get a second goal to seal their victory. In the 49th minute, Caroline Graham Hansen nearly rewarded their effort by releasing Aitana Bonmati on goal, but the goalkeeper saved the midfielder’s effort. Afterwards, Ona Batlle picked up the loose ball and delivered a perfect cross to Lucy Bronze, who saw her header come back off the post.
The Blaugrana kept dictating the rhythm and intensity of the game as their search for a second goal continued. However, it wasn’t until the 73rd minute that Caroline Graham Hansen found the back of the net with a low shot from outside the box.
Lucy Bronze passed to the Norwegian who took a decent first touch before firing a low shot that bounced off the far post into the back of the net.
The goal secured the victory for Barcelona and crushed Frankfurt’s dream of qualifying for the knockout stages. The game ended 2-0 with Barcelona maintaing their position at the top of the group standings after winning all five of their group stage games played so far.
