Barcelona see off Chelsea and book their spot in the UWCL final

After a disappointing first leg performance by their own metrics, FC Barcelona rallied to find two goals and see off Chelsea on route to their fourth UEFA Women’s Champions League final. In front of a 39,000 plus Stamford Bridge crowd, Aitana Bonmatí first half goal and Fridolina Rolfö composed penalty, Barcelona made sure that they would be in the final once again, and not Chelsea.

It spelled the end of Emma Hayes’ European dreams before she heads off to manage the USWNT, while continuing Jonatan Giráldez’ journey before he too embarks on a new journey in the United States of America.

For Barcelona, having the services of Rolfö once again while also knowing that Mayra Ramírez would not be available for Chelsea, made life easier for the Catalans. Ramírez had proved to be almost too much for the makeshift Barcelona backline to handle a week ago, while Rolfö’s experience and talent would match up well with Chelsea’s three-back system.

The main difference between this leg and the one before in Barcelona, was the absence of sharpness in Chelsea’s midfield. Erin Cuthbert and Melanie Leupolz, who had silenced the likes of Bonmatí and Patri Guijarro in a way no one else has seemed to manage this season, were off the pace this time around. They continually lost possession of the ball in key moments and couldn’t get their spacing right out of possession. That meant that when Barcelona had the ball, Bonmatí in particular was able to drive at Chelsea’s backline with no one around her to stop her movement.

This made for a long day at the office for Chelsea and by the time the game hit the 60th minute mark, most of the players in blue seemed to be running on fumes.

In fact, the first goal of the game came from the space in midfield that Chelsea left for Barcelona to exploit. A turnover further up the pitch allowed Barcelona to move the ball quickly towards goal and once the ball came to Bonmatí, with the space she had, everyone expected a goal to be produced. The goal did come then in the 25th minute, however it took a deflection from Kadeisha Buchanan to bypass Hannah Hampton in goal.

Buchanan’s day didn’t get any better. In the second half, two fairly quick fouls led to two yellow cards, which left Chelsea having to try and find a way back into the tie with only ten players. Playing against Barcelona with eleven is hard enough, but with one less player to cover the gaps, it would only be a matter of time before Barcelona found the winning goal.

That came in the 75th minute, when once again Bonmatí was the catalyst Barcelona needed to change the game. The referee judged that Ashley Lawrence took down Bonmatí inside the box, and after a VAR check, Fridolina Rolfö sent Hampton the wrong way with a coolly taken penalty.

What will undoubtedly frustrate Chelsea will be not only the perceived performance of the referee, Iuliana Demetrescu, but that before Buchanan’s sending off and even after it, they had great chances of their own to score.

Melanie Leupolz hit the crossbar from close range with the goal gaping, Catarina Macario forced Cata Coll into a smart save, Lauren James missed a great cutback from Sjoeke Nüsken, and Nüsken hit the post when she should have scored. Chelsea had their chances, they just didn’t take them, and when you play at this stage of the competition against a team as good as Barcelona is, not taking your chances will cost you in the end.

Photo by Charlie Crowhurst - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

A quick word on the referee, Iuliana Demetrescu, who’s overall performance will live long in the memory for anyone associated with Chelsea. Many will feel that Buchanan’s second yellow card and the foul on Bonmatí which led to the penalty, were very soft calls. Demetrescu also seemed to make calls in arbituary fashion e.g. not making a drop ball when she interfered with play or awarding free kicks for fouls and/or handballs that didn’t actually happen. Whether it was the occasion that got to her or something else, we’ll never know but her performance will be one that not many will look back on fondly, especially for Chelsea fans.

Barcelona will now sit back and wait to see who from Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain they will be facing in the final in Bilbao. They will confident that whoever wins that tie, will be a team they can beat if they are at their very best. You can’t really argue with that either as even with key defensive players missing and misfiring players further up the pitch, Barcelona still have enough quality to pick apart Chelsea today at Stamford Bridge. At their very best, they can and probably will beat anyone in front of them, and with history beckoning, they will want to do so no matter who they face.