FC Barcelona beats Chelsea and plays in the fourth Champions League final in a row

NOS Football•today, 8:40 PM

Bonmatí and Rolfo fire Barcelona past Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals

Title holder FC Barcelona has reached the final of the Champions League for the fourth year in a row. The Catalan women defeated Chelsea 2-0 in London, after the English women surprisingly won the first match 1-0 in Barcelona.

Barcelona will play in the final against Olympique Lyonnais or Paris Saint-Germain, who play against each other on Sunday. The first game ended in a 3-2 win for Lyon.

The decisive goal in London came from the foot of Fridolina Rolfo, a penalty fifteen minutes before the end. Chelsea had already been playing with ten players for fifteen minutes, because Kadeisha Buchanan received two yellow cards within five minutes. The second yellow card was given somewhat easily, as Buchanan played the ball.

The red card had a major influence on the match, because Barcelona was able to execute the smooth combination game even better after Buchanan was sent off in the resulting space. Hunting for the necessary second goal. After the 0-2, Chelsea’s ten squeezed out a final offensive, but that did not yield anything promising.

Yet Chelsea does not have to be ashamed of the home defeat. Barcelona, ​​where Esmee Brugts remained on the bench for the entire match, will play the fourth Champions League final in four years. The Spaniards lost to Lyon in 2022 and won against VfL Wolfsburg in 2023 and against Chelsea in 2021.

A stunt and the ultimate revenge for 2021 seemed to be in the making. Because Chelsea started the return sharply at a packed Stamford Bridge. The English defended with concentration, carefully repelled the Spanish attacks and were waiting for the counter.

Barcelona’s first attempt between the posts only took place after more than twenty minutes. Graham Hansen’s volley had a tricky bounce, but Chelsea keeper Hannah Hampton was alert enough. Hampton couldn’t do much against Aitana Bonmati’s 1-0, after the Spanish midfielder deftly turned away and pushed the ball into the far corner via a touch.

Not long after that opening goal, Chelsea had the biggest chance of the match through Melanie Leupolz. After a strong action by Lauren James, dribbling on the flank and putting the ball back, Leupolz hit the ball on the crossbar in front of an open goal. Chelsea did not get any closer to the final.

The defeat marked Chelsea’s first loss in ten Champions League matches. The last defeat was in the semi-finals last year. Even then, the women of Barcelona were too strong.