Barcelona, Spain – Barcelona recovered from a lost penalty of Alexia Putellas to take a 4-1 advantage over Chelsea in the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League on Sunday.
Putellas had its penalty kick saved by Chelsea Hannah Hampton goalkeeper in the 12th minute, but the Catalan club recovered with a couple of goals for the substitute Claudia Pina and one from Ewa Pajor and Irene Paredes.
Sandy Baltimore scored for Chelsea.
“There is no winning marker is enough,” said Barcelona coach Pere Romeu. “There is great evidence in football that you can never trust a first leg advantage. We will have a beautiful battle there in Stamford Bridge.”
Chelsea will organize the semifinal stage back next Sunday and the winner in aggregate will advance to the final in Lisbon next month.
It was the eighth consecutive victory for Barcelona defending champion in it European women’s competition. He has scored 40 goals in those eight consecutive victories since he lost 2-0 against Manchester City.
Barcelona and Chelsea meet in the last four for the third consecutive season. Barcelona has advanced every time.
“I still believe in my team and in my players, 100%,” said Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor. “It will be difficult, but the main objective is to score early on the return section. In football everything is possible, so we try to win the game and, if we write down early, maybe we can put Barcelona under pressure.”
Pajor opened the score in 35 and Pina added to the leadership in 70, not long after entering the game.
Baltimore approached visitors four minutes later, but Paredes gave Barcelona a two -go advantage again in 82.
Pina added a room in 90 at the Johan Cruyff stadium.
“When I am at the bank, we have already spent a week analyzing a rival like Chelsea,” Pina said. “You have many ideas in your head. When the game continues, you progress those ideas and look where your teammates are already creating gaps in the defense of opponents.”
In the other series of semifinals, Lyon resisted a rally from the second half of arsenal To claim a 2-1 victory outside of Saturday, putting the record eight times champions ongoing for another match for the title of the League of Women’s Champions.
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