So this is how it ends. Not with a bang – and not with a whimper. Instead it ends with a fight, a strong sense of grievance – and the sobering reminder in the pouring West London rain that in football, dreams do not always come true.
The Champions League has long been the Holy Grail of Emma Hayes’ Chelsea. The solitary final reached under her tenure, in 2021, was the closest we have come – but also the furthest. The 4-0 humbling at the hands of an imperious Barcelona showed just how far we had to go to become European champions.
Chelsea came into the second leg with an aggregate advantage, thanks to an unprecedented 1-0 win in Barcelona. “Unprecedented” is no exaggeration, given it was Barcelona’s first home defeat in five years – and really the first in their era of domination, in which they have become recognised as one of the greatest teams in the history of women’s football.
After 90 minutes (plus injury time) in front of a record crowd at Stamford Bridge, we emerged as beaten semi-finalists – again. We also emerged as gallant losers – having given our all against what felt like ever-increasing adversity, as has been the case for much of this season.
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Chelsea benefited from a genuine rarity in the build up – a whole week off between matches, for the first time this calendar year.
It was going to be needed.
Following the historic 1-0 win against Barcelona in Spain, the Blues came into the second leg of our semi-final tie with the most slender of leads – but also with the knowledge that the European champions can blow away any team.
There had been much chat in the media from the Catalans, with the reigning Ballon d’Or holder Aitana Bonmati leading the complaints against Chelsea’s so-called “dirty” tactics in the first leg. How she had judged a fairly routine bit of time wasting as more against the spirit of the game than the rough treatment of Mayra Ramirez had raised a few eyebrows, however.
Games do not come much bigger than this, and the Saturday evening showdown at Stamford Bridge was the talk of women’s football.
There had been a huge push to get as many fans as possible at the Bridge to mark the occasion – which would also be the final time Emma Hayes led her team out at the ground. Fittingly, the 39,000 made it a record crowd for Chelsea FC Women.
Hayes persisted with the back three that had been deployed to so much success in the first leg. The only change to the starting XI was Ramirez dropping out – being ruled out with illness. This was a big blow for Chelsea – the Colombian had been a constant headache to the Barcelona defence the week previously. It did mean an opportunity for Cat Macario to start – and the American has experience in this competition with Lyon, scoring in their 2022 final win… against a certain Barcelona.
The collective voices of the sellout crowd brought a noisy backing track to the evening kick off – whilst Barcelona did their part by bringing their famous intensity from the start, with a noticeable step up from their performance last week.
Chelsea showed early signs that they were not content to just sit back – attempting to release Lauren James and Macario whenever given the chance. The wide threat from Ashley Lawrence and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd was carried over from the week previously, too – and from Lawrence’s good wing play Erin Cuthbert had a chance to replicate her goal from the first leg… but this time the Scot blazed over.
Hannah Hampton’s first real save of the game came after around 20 minutes – and it was a straightforward one from the dangerous Caroline Graham Hansen.
Unfortunately, it was less than five minutes later that Barcelona finally got on the scoresheet in the tie – and it was through the reigning Ballon d’Or holder, Bonmati. The midfielder’s strike took a cruel deflection off of Kadeisha Buchanan to wrongfoot Hampton. They all count, however – and that crucially made it 1-1 on aggregate.
Cuthbert immediately took her frustration out by booting a clearance straight into Bonmati’s face, leading to a break in play shortly after the goal – and a chance to regroup.
There was soon after a heartstopping moment, when Melanie Leupolz struck the crossbar with what looked like a golden chance to restore Chelsea’s overall lead – following our best attacking move of the match. However, the flag was raised for offside in the build up, to spare some of the agony – and it did show the Blues were still in this tie.
That moment did spark off what was Chelsea’s best 10 minute period of the match – and the Blues should have scored when Barcelona made an uncharacteristic error in defence. Sjoeke Nüsken won the ball in the opposition box, but her cutback could not quite find James. There was a feeling we would likely not get many better chances than that…
It was key to get to half time with the game still in the balance – and we did, meaning it was all still to fight for in the second half.
The pressure was to keep building, however, in the second half – and Chelsea were turning to increasingly desperate defending to hold back the Barcelona surge. The raucous home support tried their best – but were silenced by what occurred in the few minutes around the hour mark.
First, Chelsea came the closest we would get to a goal in the game. A brilliant long pass from James found Lawrence, whose cross was met first time by the onrushing Nüsken. Her stretched effort bounced off the outside of the post – leaving the German, and everyone in Blue, with heads in hands.
Then, just minutes later, the game changed entirely. Chelsea are no stranger to dodgy refereeing decisions in the Champions League versus Barcelona – and this one would have had Didier Drogba out of his seat. Buchanan was shown a very harsh second yellow card for a minimal foul, reducing Chelsea to ten players – and making the task mountainous.
Hayes responded by making her first change, with Guro Reiten coming on for Macario. And Chelsea kept on fighting, pushing into the final 20 minutes with it still locked at 1-1 on aggregate.
Then, typically, another favourable refereeing decision for the opposition changed the game again. The lightest of pushes on Bonmati from Lawrence – after the Spaniard had appeared to first push the defender herself – resulted in a penalty, which unlike last week, VAR allowed to stand.
Fridolina Rolfo showed the coolest of heads from 12 yards to convert the spot kick, and for the first time in over 160 minutes of this tie, Barcelona were in front.
With 15 minutes left to play, a player and a goal down – it did feel like the end. Hayes threw the kitchen sink at it – bringing on each of Aggie Beever-Jones, Fran Kirby and Eve Perisset… and her wildcard, Millie Bright.
The centre half was making her first appearance in six months, after a long and difficult rehab from a knee injury – and the reception from the near 40,000 at the Bridge for our returning captain was a truly special moment.
Bright has before in crunch games for both England and Chelsea been used as an emergency centre forward – and this was her role for this cameo, as the Blues gave everything they had in the final throes, whilst the rain fell heavier and heavier.
There was to be six minutes of injury time for Chelsea to get an implausible goal to level up the tie – and after their complaints, it was Barcelona’s turn to waste time.
The sound and the fury of all of Stamford Bridge was to peter out – it ended 2-0 on the night, giving Barcelona a 2-1 aggregate win, and a place in the Champions League final.
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In the end, everything we had was not enough. The dream was over – but it was not without a fight. Any Chelsea fan should at least be happy that with odds increasingly stacked against us, through both injury and officiating, we acquitted ourselves impressively well.
Barcelona reached another Champions League final, but that was not the story. They will be favourites – and will likely end their own coach’s Jonatan Giráldez’s final season at the club with the trophy that we so desperately wanted to be the curtain call, for our own legendary manager.
It was cruel, but there is pride in this defeat – in the battling performance from the team, the endless fight, and the knowledge that the gap really does not appear to be closing. Barcelona are now in our sights.
This was not straightforward for them – and it was not as routine as the statement of Barcelona reaching yet another Champions League final makes it seem. Chelsea proved over these two legs we can contend with – and can beat – the very best, even in one of our most difficult seasons in recent times.
However, ultimately the quest was at an end, for now. The dream won’t come true for Emma Hayes at Chelsea – but the club’s story in the Champions League will live on in the years to come.
Before dreams of future European glory, however, it was next going to be a big task to pick ourselves up for the one trophy left to win, in this long and difficult season.
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Final score: Chelsea 0-2 Barcelona (Barcelona win 2-1 on aggregate)
Line up: Hampton, Lawrence (Perisset 84), Carter, Buchanan, Charles (c), Rytting Kaneryd (Bright 84), Lawrence, Nüsken, Cuthbert, Leupolz (Beever-Jones 76), James (Kirby 84), Macario (Reiten 63)
Unused subs: Musovic, Ingle, Mjelde, Cankovic, Björn
Goal scorer(s): n/a
The Glory Hayes 