With a goal in the 4th minute of play from Norwegian Caroline Graham Hansen, Barcelona won at Chelsea (1-0) on Saturday in the semi-final first leg of the Women’s Champions League and took a good option on qualification. . It will even be almost impossible for the English, at Camp Nou and in front of 90,000 spectators, since the Catalans have won 36 of the 37 matches they have played this season, in all competitions, the only defeat having been suffered in Munich, against the Bayern, in pool (3-1).
Beaten 4-0 by Barcelona in the final in 2021, a score acquired at the break after a cataclysmic start to the match, the Londoners do not seem to have learned their lesson. Barcelona was able to strike from the start through Graham Hansen who cut in the middle and shot from 20 meters, almost unopposed (0-1, 4th).
The Norwegian was a real poison for the Blues, stumbling over Ann-Katrin Berger in the 31st before sending a cross shot (45 2) which still sent shivers down Stamford Bridge, left for once at the disposal of the feminine.
Wounded Bronze
There was a Norwegian who laughs and a Norwegian who cries in this match, since Guro Reiten, Chelsea side, came very close to equalizing. A goal was denied to him for offside by Sam Kerr at the start of the action (25th). Then she suffered the return on her line of the English Lucy Bronze, when she had dribbled the goalkeeper, four minutes later. Chelsea’s sense of helplessness was even more palpable in the second half, with a Marta Torrejon header even hitting the post in the 82nd minute.
The bad news for Barça was the exit of Bronze, three times titled during his seasons in Lyon, in the 67th, on one foot, before returning to the bench with an ice bag around his left knee .
It is also additional potential bad news for the English national team before the World Cup in three months. The European champions learned Friday the withdrawal of their axial defender and captain Leah Williamson, due to a rupture of an anterior cruciate ligament, the same injury which is likely to deprive his partner of the attack at Arsenal, Beth Mead, of the World Cup, while Millie Bright, defender of Chelsea, is currently also in the infirmary with a knee injury.
