Chelsea brought about an unbelievable shock on Saturday afternoon when their 1-0 win in Catalunya ended Barcelona’s unbelievable unbeaten streak at residence, one which stretched again to February 2019. There is nonetheless a second leg at Stamford Bridge to come, one by which Barca will little question be higher and throw every little thing at their hosts, but the Blues at the moment are only one sport away from the Women’s Champions League final.

Erin Cuthbert’s purpose determined the sport, Sjoeke Nusken doing a little improbable work within the Barca field earlier than teeing the Scot up to strike into the highest nook earlier than half-time. It felt like Chelsea would have to do some backs-to-the-wall defending to see the sport out but that wasn’t actually the case. The Catalans dominated possession, sure, but their greatest probabilities did not come till the final minutes of the sport and England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton did not have a single save to make within the opposing purpose.

Barca did suppose that they had a penalty simply after half-time but VAR intervened as Salma Paralluelo was adjudged to have been interfering with play from an offside place on the identical time that Kadeisha Buchanan dealt with the ball. If anybody thought that was controversial, it was most likely evened out by Irene Paredes getting away with a kick on Mayra Ramirez within the different field a little afterward.

Despite the reigning European champions being nowhere close to their finest, they will nonetheless really feel they need to not have misplaced this sport after carving out two enormous alternatives to get at the least a draw. First, Paralluelo may solely join with Caroline Graham Hansen’s cross together with her shin, thus sending it nicely vast, then Alexia Putellas had a golden probability with the final kick of the sport, solely to miss the goal from shut vary.

Chelsea had to journey their luck a little bit within the closing moments but it might be harsh to say they did not deserve a constructive outcome. After all, their sport plan was excellent and the gamers executed it brilliantly. Do that another time, again in London on April 27, and they will be in a second Women’s Champions League final.

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