Chelsea’s hopes of finally beating Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League took a major blow as Pere Romeu’s side walked away with a 4-1 advantage to take into the second leg of their semi-final tie.
Barcelona have dumped the Blues out of Europe in three of the last four seasons, including two semi-final disappointments in the last two campaigns, and history could well repeat itself following their dominant performance in the first leg.
Ewa Pajor opened the scoring for Barca when she tucked her shot into the bottom-left corner after latching onto a pass from Alexia Putellas, who had seen her penalty saved by Hannah Hampton earlier in the game, before substitute Claudia Pina tapped home a second in the 70th minute.
Chelsea will host the reigning champions in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on April 27 and it looked as if they had rescued their hopes of reaching the final when Sandy Baltimore’s low-driven effort found the back of the net, only for Irene Paredes’ header from a corner to restore the two-goal advantage less than 10 minutes later.
Barcelona then added insult to injury when Pina doubled her tally on the afternoon, giving the Blues a mountain to climb in the second leg if they are to book their place in Bilbao on May 25.
Chelsea humbled by Barcelona
Sky Sports’ Anton Toloui
“Chelsea have been humbled, they’ll need the biggest performance in the history of the club to turn this around.
“They’ve been outclassed by a team that have been the best on the planet for half a decade.
“Chelsea were exposed, lacked creativity and now have one hell of a fight at Stamford Bridge next week.
Chelsea Women react to the disappointing 4-1 loss to Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League
“Paredes’ goal is probably the moment that destroys Chelsea’s European dream. Lucy Bronze went down in a heap, hands thrown to the air and shouted what I presume is a variety of expletives as soon as Paredes’ header hit the net.
“The England right-back was beaten far too easily and Bompastor will be livid a goal from a set-play was conceded.”
Mountain to climb for Chelsea
Sky Sports’ Patrick Rowe:
That is the difference. That is how quickly games can run away from you against elite opposition.
Ewa Pajor celebrates after scoring Barcelona’s opening goal against Chelsea
Chelsea were not the better side but they were coping. However, they unravelled in the second half and now face not just an uphill battle in the second leg, it’s a mountain to climb.
The home crowd will help but can they do enough to drag Bompastor’s side back into the tie? I’m not so sure.
Ultimately, it comes down to the players – and they were outclassed at times this evening.
It’s not impossible – but it seems unlikely.
