27 apr 2024 om 21:14 Update: 2 uur geleden
FC Barcelona reached the final of the Champions League Women for the fourth time in a row on Saturday. The Spanish club – with Esmee Brugts on the bench for ninety minutes – won 2-0 against Chelsea at a sold-out Stamford Bridge in London, after losing the first match in Barcelona 1-0.
Star player Aitana Bonmatí opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 25th minute. In the 75th minute she was tackled in the penalty area, after which the Swedish Fridolina Rolfö used the penalty (0-2).
Chelsea was already playing with ten women, because Kadeisha Buchanan was sent off with a red card in the 59th minute.
Twenty-year-old Brugts saw it happen from the reserve bench. The Dutch international exchanged PSV for Barcelona last summer, which won the Champions League last year by beating VfL Wolfsburg in the final in the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven. In 2022, Barcelona lost to Olympique Lyonnais in the final and a year earlier they won 4-0 against Chelsea.
Barcelona will know their opponent in the final on Sunday
Barcelona will know the opponent in the final battle on Sunday. Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais will play the return of the other semi-final in Paris. Lyon won the first match 3-2. Jackie Groenen and Lieke Martens are under contract with PSG and Lyon also has two Dutch internationals: Damaris Egurrola and Daniëlle van de Donk.
The final of the Champions League women is on Saturday May 25 in San Mamés in Bilbao. The first edition of the tournament was in the 2001/2002 season and Lyon is the record winner with eight final victories.
This season, Ajax was the first Dutch club ever to reach the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League. Chelsea was too strong in two games.
