There are no heroines without drawbacks, obstacles or obstacles. There are no heroines accustomed to easy victory. Barcelona’s confidence was catapulted after losing in Montjuïc in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final by the minimum (0-1). But Emma Hayes’ team also showed pride in front of their fans. No team imposed its football. None were without errors. The current European champion, the great favorite, started with an extraordinary situation: the disadvantage. Uncomfortable for them, as well as unusual. Not used to coming back in the League, with some more difficulties in the Champions League, but always one point above their rivals. At Stamford Bridge they came out to demonstrate their resilience and comeback, and Aitana Bonmatí and Fridolina Rolfö scored the two goals that took Barcelona to the Champions League final on May 25 in San Mamés (against PSG or Lyon; this Sunday, the return in Paris at 4:00 p.m. after the 3-2 in the first leg). They wanted victory, they looked for it, and the rain put out the inferno in the English stadium. The great favorite took on the pressure, with all eyes on them, and transformed it into hope. It will be their fifth Champions League final, the fourth in a row.
0
Hannah Hampton, Kadeisha Buchanan, Niamh Charles, Jess Carter, Melanie Leupolz, Sjoeke Nüsken, Ashley Lawrence, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Erin Cuthbert, Catarina Macário and Lauren James
2
Cata Coll, Ona Batlle, Lucy Bronze, Irene Paredes, Ingrid Engen, Aitana Bonmatí, Patri Guijarro, Keira Walsh, Caroline Graham Hansen, Fridolina Rolfö and Salma Paralluelo
Goals 0-1 min. 25: Aitana Bonmatí. 0-2 min. 74: Fridolina Rolfö.
Referee Iuliana Elena Demetrescu
Yellow cards Kadeisha Buchanan (min. 54) and Niamh Charles (min. 87)
And in the first leg, Emma Hayes approached her plan perfectly, and returned from Montjuïc—turned into the cursed temple for the Catalans—with a goal advantage. They played at slowing down the march. There, far from London, they despaired of a Barcelona that was slow with the ball, unable to build its game, and harmless in attack: the worse it attacked the rival goal, the more vulnerable it was in defense. Giráldez did not find the space inside, and he did not take advantage of his extremes either. For the return leg, the coach showed that something had to change, and the weight then fell on Mariona Caldentey, completely missing in Montjuïc and the only change in the starting eleven for the return leg. In her place, Lucy Bronze, who occupied the right side so that Ona Batlle took over the left side and left Fridolina Rolfö further forward, in her natural winger position before arriving at Barcelona. Chelsea, this time, was without Mayra Ramírez—one less nightmare for the Barça defense—who was out at the last minute due to injury after training this week with a bandage on one leg, and who was replaced by Catarina Macario as the only change for the English team.
The players appeared serious in a completely full Stamford Bridge – 39,398 attendees – in a record attendance at the English field in a women’s soccer match. The blues made a harangue before the start amidst the roar of the spectators. The noise of their fans accompanied them in their intensity and pressure, while Barcelona remembered the mistakes—less than in the first leg, but still enough to weigh down the Blaugranas—of the first game: constant losses that prolonged the agony due to the difficulty of recovering. the ball, overstretching in defense and rushing in attack. Nervous, they did not extend their possessions.
But Jonatan Giráldez promised readjustments, and with the rain on the legendary English stadium, they arrived. The pressure on the rival field became furious, and Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton made her debut in the entire tie after a shot from Graham Hansen, reappearing after her few interventions in the first leg and more liberated. She was able to stop the Norwegian, but not her dance partner this season: Aitana Bonmatí. Patri Guijarro found the Ballon d’Or in his favorite place, at the front of the area, where he scored the goal that equalized the tie and with which he tied Alexia Putellas for the number of goals -21- in the Champions League. And, above all, it tasted like air.
Then, Barça began to become Barça. But Chelsea never stopped being Chelsea. Aitana bled from her nose after being hit by a ball. The intensity was still served on the pitch, and the ‘blues’ constantly tried against Cata Coll, who emerged as a heroine alongside Fortune, who fell on the Barça side in the attempts of Hayes’ team. The opportunities were exchanged. Barcelona was vulnerable. Until Jess Carter’s penalty on Aitana came. And Rolfö, protagonist in the Eindhoven final, and who was not particularly successful with the last pass during the match, put the lead on the scoreboard for Barcelona.
Aitana, the other heroine of the match, retired with discomfort to make way for Alexia Putellas, on the bench from the start. “I can’t, I can’t,” shouted Barcelona’s number 14 from the ground. The Blaugrana continued to press, and Hayes’ team, who put their hands on their heads looking at the sky, tried to press to tie the tie. The nerves took over. The stadium roared. Chelsea saw their final slip away, what would have been the second for them. Giráldez finally smiled. It didn’t stop raining on Stamford Bridge, but the clouds that covered Montjuïc in the last minutes of the first leg cleared. Barcelona reached the fifth Champions League final, this time at home, in San Mamés, on May 25. Among their possible rivals, PSG and Olympique Lyon, Barcelona’s great rival. Meanwhile, they continue on the way to their throne, on the way to their history, on the way to continue being the heroines of Europe.
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