Chelsea v Barcelona

Ms Blue Sky-rocket Chelsea Women host Barcelona Femeni in the UWCL League Stage at Stamford Bridge

Where are we and what’s going on?

A big night ahead

The Blues play host to arch rivals Barca-moaners in the league stage of the new Swiss model Champions League. It’s a mild November evening in SW6. Basil is out on the Fulham Road collecting for a foodbank with his skills. It’s MD4 . Chelsea sit 5th in the new league having got off to a slow start and drawn away to FC Twente. Barca sit top having won all their games.

Champions League Nights at the Bridge

There are some surprises in the squad. There is no Millie on the bench as is LJ. LJ has not been selected for the next internationals as she is only just coming back from her last international injury. Sam Kerr is being rested for her upcoming international duties. Hannah is injured so Olivia Peng is in goal. In front of Olivia are Lucy Bronze, eNatalia Bjorn and Naomi Girma. Out wide are Sandy Baltimore and Ellie Carpenter. That’s 5 at the back which is unusual for Sonia. The midfield is Kiera Walsh, Erin Cuthbert and Wieke Kaptien. Up front are Allesia Thompson and Aggie Aggie Aggie. We expect Lucy and Ellie will fill in the gap at right wing between them.

The only Sam we'll see tonight 

There are no surprises in the Barca 11 but some new names on the bench as the senior squad is a bit thin. They still have Vicky Lopez and Kika Nazareth on the bench though. Gulp.

It’s a good crowd in the East and West stands. We’re joined in the West by Basil. There is the usual UEFA build up, a bit of Liquidator. We all stand for the anthems. The teams have one last huddle then it’s come on the Chels.

Off we go…

It’s a good battle as both teams try to press high and play out from the back. CGH is causing trouble down the right wing as usual. Luckily Payor’s control just fails her this time. CGH takes her own chance next but Naomi does well to block it.

Chelsea are weathering a bit of pressure at the moment. That pressure is soon relieved as Ellie’s run is picked out by Aggie. She smashes it from the corner of the box and into the net on 16 ⚽. 1-0.

Payor makes her next chance count on 21 but it’s ruled offside. Haha.

Sandy is getting space to run with the ball on the left. She crosses into a busy box but it’s eventually cleared.

Barca get a corner. It ends up at the feet of Payor and she puts it into the top corner on 24. 1-1.

Wieke combines well with Erin but Wieke’s shot is saved by Cata Coll. The combo is Walsh and Thomson this time but it’s into a side netting. They try again and it hits the post. Getting closer.

The ref calls play to a stop on 39. We don’t know what’s going on but she has a chat with the managers. Rumour in the crowd is it’s a technical issue with the broadcast. A power outage possibly. Time for some team talks for both sides. It’s all resolved, the emergency 50p has been found and we’re off again on 46. There are 9 added minutes.

Sandy is finding plenty of space again, not that she needs much. Her first effort is from range and goes over the bar. The second is an easy save for Cata Coll. She had better options there but is confident of her own considerable abilities. And we do moan regularly about players playing the pass when a shot is on so you go for Sandy.

Lucy’s ball finds Aggie in space. She misses but it’s off-side anyway. It’s still 1-1 at the break.

Chelsea have started sitting a bit deeper. Ellie is badly fouled by Brugts who is lucky to stay on. There is a blue wall at the edge of the Chelsea box. It’s not all solid defending as there is a very nervy backpass from Wieke to Olivia.

Barca are on top at the moment. It doesn’t stop a Chelsea break though. Erin ball finds Ellie. Ellie is on for a brace but she fires it just wide.

Barca’s pressure leads to a dangerous free kick. it ‘s well blocked by Lucy. They are finding their feet and starting to look like a Barcelona team. Bonmati’s dangerous cross finds no-one though and is caught by Peng.

Sonia makes her first change on 71 as Aggie is replaced by Kat. Kat makes her presence felt straight away as she heads home. Chelsea are in the lead again briefly only for it to be ruled out after a VAR review for offside. Boo.

We breathe a sigh of relief on 74 as CGH is subbed off only to groan as she is replaced by Vicky Lopez.

Lucy Bronze is in the way again as she heads clear from a dangerous free kick. Chelsea seem to be resurgent again. A great 1-2 between Ellie and Kat gives Ellie a great chance. Somehow she misses the target. Can’t be missing those at this level. She should be celebrating a hattrick.

This game is far from done. Chelsea sitting back and giving away a corner. The blue line is still holding somehow.

A late change swaps Pina for the in form Nazareth. Help. She doesn’t have enough time to be an influence. Chelsea get one last corner and it’s all over. Bragging rights and points shared. Neither side will be happy with that. First points dropped by Barcelona and Chelsea will feel it’s 2 points dropped at home. We’re done here and off back to Fulham Broadway tube.

On the train home

We think it’s all over…

That was a great contest. Two of Europe's top teams trying to better each other. The Spaniards have, almost, always had the upper hand in the past. It was a battle of equals today. Curse or bogey team or whatever, it’s a thing of the past now.

Chelsea will be the most disappointed that they didn’t come away with the win. Ellie had so many good chances that she should have had a hattrick. There seemed to be more momentum in the attacks down the right with Lucy joining in. How does she get up and down the pitch like that? From 6 yard box to 6 yard box. Amazing for a defender sitting in a back 3. Naomi on the left of the 3 was going nowhere. Ellie and Lucy made for great overlaps on the right.

One surprise tonight was only seeing one substitution from Chelsea. Is Sonia saving legs or not wanting to upset what was clearly working in the midfield and defence? Only she knows that.

There was very good pace in the Blues backline to stop the breakaway. If they hadn’t scored from a corner, they wouldn’t have scored at all. CGH who. There was some seriously dodgy defending by the blues in possession. Not what you need at this level. They were lucky this time but it was worrying to see. Very Brighton. Peng is a great keeper but seems to struggle to switch the ball quickly from left to right. She played the ball back into danger instead of away. It wouldn’t have been surprising if there had been a number of back-pass induced medical incidents in the crowd.

On the plus side, the Barca midfield will probably be having nightmares, seeing Erin Cuthbert everywhere they look. There is no escaping her sometimes.

In other news, Arsenal won at home to Real Madrid but Man Utd lost badly away to Wolfsburg.

Chelsea have Roma at home next followed by a trip to Wolfsburg. We have the European Champions “The Lionesses” facing China, the Asian Champions in a friendly at Wembley.

The other bits

POTM: Ellie got the goal and could have had 3 but Erin was everywhere. The Barca players will probably having nightmares featuring Erin for weeks to come. Hopefully longer. “She’s behind you” 👻🤣

Basil Bulletin: He was on the Fulham Road collecting for a foodbank and then making a noise in the West Stand.

Basil

Officially Opinionated: The officials had a good game. They clamped down on or ignored the Barca nonsense. A refreshing change for this match up at the Bridge.

The Scran’O’meter was disappointed to go past the Spoons on Victoria Station and straight to the Burger King. I suppose needs must on a school night though. The veggie thing was nice. 6/10.

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Rinse and Defeat

Chelsea Women host Barcelona Femeni in the UWCL Semi Final Second Leg at Stamford Bridge

The Blues host the Garnet and Blue in a repeat of the two previous Champions League Semi Finals. Getting boring now. We were here last year to see the Blues lose having come back from the away leg with a narrow lead. That’s not the case this year. They got battered in Spain and got a late consolation to make it 4-1. A big ask to get anything today. They have to play it as a one off and just try to win it. Sonia got it horribly wrong in Barcelona and needs to do something very different tonight. The Blues squad is missing LJ who was injured on international duty. Sam Kerr is nearly back but not quite ready yet. Natalie Bjorn was injured in the away leg on 81 minutes. The 3rd goal came straight after that change which unfortunately had to happen when defending a corner. The line ups are out. Hannah is in goal with Millie and Naomi G in front. Naimh is left back opposite Lucy on the right. In the middle are Erin, Kiera and Sjoeke. Sandie, JRK and Mayra are up front. Guru is on the bench having played 30 minutes in the away leg. The Garnet and Blue have the last 2 Ballon D’Or winners on the pitch. The core of the team is still Spanish but some of the pace on the wings come from elsewhere in the the shape of CGH and Rolfo. Are they wingers or whingers, we’ll see later. Last year there were loads of Barca shirts in the Shed. This time we are in the West Stand and the stewards were stopping away fans outside and sending them back to the ticket office. The sun is shining but we’re in the shade. Bet it’s toasty in the East Stand. We didn’t see Basil outside. He will make his presence known when the match starts. We have clackers so will be joining Basil in the percussion section today 🥁.

The Spanish champions are on it from the whistle with Aitana and Alexia getting early chances. The Blues pick themselves up a bit and it gets scrapy and broken up for a while. It’s Chelsea’s turn to get a couple of chances but Sandy misses and Sjoeke’s shot is saved. It’s 25 minutes played when Aitana picks the ball up in her own half. The Chelsea defence are out of shape and she runs clean through them to smash it past Hannah from inside the box. Knife through butter springs to mind. Or maybe it’s plant based spread these days. 0-1. Need to stop that happening again. The Chels need 4 goals to level it now. The Blues keep their heads up and get a flurry of corners and chances. It’s Sandy with the chances, forcing a block and a save. It’s soon all over for the Blues as Payor puts in a CGH cross from close range on 41. 0-2. Pina hits a long curling shot from wide. Hannah looks like she leaves it but it curls into the top corner. Hannah’s third touch of the ball is to pick it out of the net again. There is another bunch of chances to extend the lead with shots from Pina (saved) and Batlle (blocked). Chelsea are trying to press but are far too sloppy in possession. They really need to be clinical with every chance but that’s not happened yet. First half is over. 7-1. Playing for pride in the 2nd half.

Sonia makes two changes at the break. Aggie replaces Mayra up front. Ashley Lawrence replaces Naomi and slots in at left back with Niamh moving across to centre back. It’s scrappy for a while but neither side able to control the ball for long. Chelsea get a couple of chances. Sandy comes very close but it’s just wide and Sjoeke blazes over. Not clinical enough at all. Sonia makes some more changes on the hour mark. Nothing to lose now. Kaptein replaces Baltimore and Kat Merario replaces Erin Cuthbert. Not sure who is playing where now. Barca make some changes too. CGH goes off (hooray) to be replaced by Paralluelo (oops). Also leaving the pitch are Parades and Pina and coming on are Fernandez and Brughts. The changes seem to disrupt the Spaniards and Chelsea get the upper hand for a while. Kat misses (again) and JRK’s shot is blocked. A couple of corners result in a good header for Nusken but it’s saved. Can’t afford to not take these chances. It now slows down with neither team able to do anything with the ball. Hermano replaces JRK who hasn’t been at her best. At 75 minutes it all goes a bit mad. Alexia starts it with a miss. Nushen has a shot saved then Lucy misses. It’s Parallelo up next but somehow Hannah manages to make the save. It’s still end to end as Lopez has her shot blocked just after she comes on for Pajor. Hermano takes her turn but shoots over. Selma Paralluelo sees another great shot scrambled away by Hannah. The chances come for Chelsea again as Aggie gets her head on a corner but it misses the target. Lucy’s shot is saved. Millie’s is blocked and Kat misses a sitter🤦🏼‍♀️. Not her first. She needs to find her shooting boots quickly 👢. The clock hits 90 as Paralluelo finally gets her goal. It was coming, she‘s been a real handful. The consolation finally comes on 90+1 as Kaptein puts it past Cata Coll into the top corner ⚽. We celebrate like it’s a winner. All over. 8-2 on aggregate.

Well that was awful. A carbon copy of the away leg. Barcelona are good but Chelsea didn't even step up until the very end. Not sure why the same tactics were supposed to work today when they failed so badly last weekend. Emma tried to out Barca Barca with a high pressing game and it worked a treat in the first leg. Barca figured it out, changed tactics and won the home leg and the tie. Barca adapted to the Chelsea press by playing long before and it worked again today. It’s made worse by the fact that Arsenal overcame their home leg deficit to beat Lyon away. A Barca v Arsenal final will sting the Blues even more. We aren’t going though, so good luck to the Gunners, hope you can get it done in Lisbon. Enough moaning about the game, it’s always nice to be at the Bridge even though we didn’t see Basil. That’s our Champions League fun over for this season. We’re already looking forward to some group games on freezing nights in North and West London.

POTM: is difficult due to the totally lacklustre performance in which no-one really did themselves proud. It goes to the person who created one of the standout moments. It was a Milliedozer sliding tackle. Nothing like a bit of petulant thuggery to get a cheer from the crowd. Thanks Millie.

The following may contain moaning👇🏼

Ref: Refs always seem to be frightened of the reputation of Barca and so are afraid of giving controversial decisions against them. Hence they get away with everything. It’s the opposite for Chelsea who are not allowed to touch the Barca players at all. The same effect happens is the WSL when ‘lower’ teams play Chelsea. No ref wants to stick their head above the parapet and be the one who ends the 20 game unbeaten run. Also inconsistent with the rules when she stopped the match for a head injury while Chelsea were in possession, then she gave the drop ball to Barca. QED.

Basil watch: No sign of him, before, during or after the game. Very sensible but hope he is OK.

The Scan’O’meter had a day off but will be pleased to hear that all bottles and top were allowed in.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Nice day for it

Back at the Bridge

A different bridge

Deja Vu

Barca-louder

Olympique Lyonaise play Barcelona Femeni in the Champions League Final at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao

We are in Spain for the last game of our season and it's the end of our Champions League journey. It’s a shame that it's not Chelsea that we are cheering today. Instead, we are behind Wendie Raynard and her Lyon team today. Lyon beat PSG in dramatic style to get here and we know Baca's route only too well with them beating Chelsea at The Bridge 😠. The Lyon manager Sonia Bompastor will be Chelsea's manager next season as Emma has gone the manage Team USA. Lyon met Barca in the final 2 years ago and won that time 🤞. Last year they were knocked out in the quarter finals by Chelsea after THAT penalty shoot out. Barca have won 2 of the last 3 beating Wolfsburg in Amsterdam last year. We were expecting a good number of Lyon fans to turn up but the seem to be out numbered more than 50-1 by Barca. It was all Barcelona shirts on the river prom and in the Guggenheim Museum There was a Lyon fan meeting zone at Indautxa Plaza but it was empty of Lyon fans. Just a corner flag to pose with 📷. Lyon have Wendie at the back, Ellie Carpenter is on the right and Selma Bacha on the left. In the middle is Daniella Van de Donk and Lindsey Horan. Up front a Delphine Cascarino on the left with Kadidiatou Diani on the right and youngster Melchie Dumornay in the middle. Barca have Lucy Bronze on the right with Fridolin Rolfö on the left. Kiera and Aitana are in the middle. Up front are Caroline Graham Hansen, Selma Paralleulo and Mariona Caldentey. The talent on the benches includes Alexia Putellas, Mapi Leon and Ada Hegerberg.

After all the fantastic build-up, it's time for get the match underway. The first chance goes to Lyon after a couple of minutes as Diani just manages to lob the ball to Cascarino who is waiting to pounce but Lucy Bronze gets to it first. Barca start to get into their stride as CGH is giving Bacha a very hard time down the wing. She is not fast enough to catch her once she inevitably gets past. Raynard is struggling with her too. Bacha makes a great goal-line clearance that that would probably have gone done as a Horan OG after Paralleulo's shot was saved. It's still 0-0 at the break.

The first chance of the second half goes to Lyon. It falls to Wendie but she volleys it just over. The Whites need to be more clinical. Rolfö and CGH are still causing problems down the wings but the first goal comes from some incisive mid field passing. The ball ends up with Aitana whose weaving run ends in the 6 yard box. Her shot deflects off defender Vanessa Gilles over Endler into the back of the net. Bugger. Great play but a lucky, or unlucky, result. Lyon's best chance comes on 87 as Bacha's cross finds the head of Ada Hegerberg. She can't get it on target and it goes over the bar. Will she get time for another chance. There are huge cheers aground the stadium as Alexia replaces Kiera a minute into the 4 minutes of injury time. Her addition means that the last 3 Ballon d'Or Winners are now on the pitch.  She scores 2 minutes later when she get the ball in the box and fits it into the roof of the net. 2-0. She gets booked as she does a Chloe Kelly with her shirt. The roar from the Barca fans is still going on when the whistle goes just after the restart.

Gutted about the result but a good game. Don't think the result was a reflection of the overall game. The margins were finer than the scoreline suggests. The difference was a couple of moments of genius, and perhaps a lucky deflection, from the last 2 Ballon d'Or winners. It would have been good to see hegerberg get more time.  She came on with just 10 minutes to go and barely got a touch of the ball.  Bringing her on after going a goal behind would surely have made more sense🤷🏻‍♂️.  The atmosphere was great and a lot of noise, mostly whistling, from the Barca fans who made up 90% of the crowd. There were some Lyon fans behind the goal with some big flags. There was also a brief appearance of a single Palestine flag that someone had smuggled despite the searches at the entrance. We though that flares were banned in the ground but the women in front of us were wearing flares that wouldn't have looked out of place on a Saturday night at the Hacienda in 1990.

POTM: Although on the losing side it goes to Selma Bacha for a very dogged performance up against one of the world's best wingers. CGH was the undoing off Chelsea last year but Selma played a part in keeping her off the score sheet today . Félicitations 🏅.

The ref today was none other than English top ref Rebecca Welsh. She got fooled by the Barca skulduggery for the first five minutes and then managed it well. She seems to lose her way in the last 10 minutes as they started rolling around again.

The Scran'O'meter was too busy chewing on the Pick'n'Mix to give comment🍬😶. Fair enough.

Our first foray into European football, if you don't count crossing the River Styx Severn to Newport County, and it's been really good fun. The whole town filled with Garnet and Blue shirts. The Spanish really do get behind their women's teams. Plenty of banter about our Lyon shirts and people talking to us in French. Hope to be crossing the channel again before too long. See you somewhere, much, closer to home next season.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

No pyro, no party

Stadium😍, wow

Beautiful in here

Flames and smoke

Huge Spider

Guggenheim 

Big flowery dog

Quiet fan park

Ride on the bus with Miles

Out in the Old Town with Miles

Chelsea Barcelona

Cry Me A Diver Chelsea Women host FC Barcelona Femeni in the UWCL Semi Final Second Leg at Stamford Bridge

Where are we and What’s going on

The Blues face the Blaugrana (blue and garnet) in the home leg to a sellout crowd on a chilly 🥶 and damp 🌧April 🤷‍♂️afternoon in SW6. It’s halftime in the tie and the Blues are a goal ahead having won 1-0 away in Barcelona.  Due to the Camp Nou renovations, t was at the 'Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium' which was built in 1927 although has been used recently for the 1992 Olympics. It was Barca's first home defeat for 5 years 👀 and the first time they have been goalless for longer than that. That defeat must smart a little 🤣 so we can be sure that they will be up for revenge today. Chelsea may well come to regret not having been more clinical when they had the upper hand in sunny Spain. It's a narrow lead against a team that can be so effective in attack.

A sell out at the Bridge

There is also some bad news on the team front. We have seen Mayra behind our seats in the Shed sitting in the lounge with Sam Kerr so she is out after being injured in the away leg. She was a big part of the win in Spain and we felt that she was targeted in that game, successfully as it seems now. Emma will need a different plan today with Catarina Macario as the only striker. It’s Captain Niamh today. It’s Emma's last game at Stamford Bridge 😢 after 12 years at Chelsea. Let's hope she can go out on a high. We’ve got our song sheets 🎶. Let's hope we get to use them🎵. The Liquidator blares out, then the anthemsflag. There looks like a spontaneous taking of the knee then we’re off. Come on you Blues.

Waiting for the action to start

Off we go

Chelsea get the first clean break after a combative 5 minutes. Cat’s pass to LJ doesn’t find her and is collected by the defence. LJ is soon involved again as she is the target of a great long ball from Kadeisha but she is a mile offside.

Barca are starting to press. Literally in the case of Rolfo who gets 2 hands on the back of Jess Carter at the byline sending her flying into the advertising screen. She knew what she was doing there and it wasn’t playing the ball. Fortunately Jess seems OK. We’ll check in with the advertising screen later on.

Chelsea are penned into their own ⅓ and hitting on the break. Ashley Lawrence is flagged for offside before the move has finished. Don’t think VAR works that way Lino especially when it’s marginal.

There is a game of ping pong in the Chelsea box after Niamh’s clearance goes straight up. Barca are maintaining control at the moment. Hannah makes a good save from CGH’s shot through bodies.

A bit of magic from Bonmati allows her to get off a shot. It deflects off Kadeisha and wrong foots Hannah to roll into the bottom corner. The tie is level now. All to play for 🙏. It was coming from all the pressure but it is still unlucky for Chelsea to concede like that.

It’s nearly a second as more clever play in tight spaces allows CGH cross. It’s put out for a corner just as Selma is about to put herself on the score sheet.

Chelsea are on the break again through LJ and Cat. Melanie Leupolz gets her head to it but hits the bar. So close. It’s flagged offside but might have been a tight call had it gone in.

That was just quick breather and Barca are back on the rampage. 

But Chelsea break again. Cat forces at good save from Cata Coll. She curls the corner and it threatens to go straight in but it’s caught by Coll.

There is booing for the ref as she gets in the way of Leupolz with the ball then allows play to continue like nothing happened. What?!?

Barca make a rare mistake at the back which gifts Nüsken the ball. She passes to LJ who somehow misses the goal. Not going in is it?

CGH and Rolfo both get shots in but they are blocked and saved. Some sensible defending at last as Jess clears the danger by just smashing it into the stand.

Rolfo gets the last chance of the half. It ends 0-1 on 45+3. The tie is equal on aggregate.

It’s a big 2nd half ahead. There are chances both ways.

Barca have a penalty shout on 49 for a tackle by Nüsken on Bronze. There is absolutely nothing in it but the visitor’s bench are getting very animated and the 4th official has to step in to sort them out.

Cat capitalises on a mistake by Batlle and manages to stop the ball going into touch but as she goes to cut it back, it’s flagged for a goal kick. The officiating is getting worse.

Kadiesha is beaten to the ball by Selma and it’s a poor tackle. It’s the first yellow of the game. Harsh, maybe a little. It’s late but not malicious but the Spanish Champions like to milk any contact.

Chelsea come so close to taking the lead again as Nusken slides onto JRK cut back. It skims the outside of the post. No lucky deflections for the Blues.

Kadisha beats Guijarra to the ball. The Barca captain goes down like she has been shot and is rolling around in agony. Disgusting behaviour for a Captain but she knows exactly what she is doing. She gets what she wants and Kadiesha gets a second yellow. That added up to a red and off she goes. No chance for VAR to intervene as it’s not a straight red. Just the diving champions of Europe doing what they do best. And the officials willingly helping out. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Selma heads way over from a great Rolfo cutback. A cutback that wasn’t deemed to not have crossed the line because it didn’t. Unlike Cat’s earlier, that didn’t go out either. Hannah jumps for it then sits down for a Zinsberger 🩺.

Both teams head off for team talks. Emma makes her first change as Cat makes way for Guru on 63.

Hannah has fully recovered and makes an easy save from Ona Batlle after a good cross and some ping pong. It's Cata's turn to make an easy save from JRK. She chops in on her left foot but the curling shoot is too central. She had a chance to smash it from an angle with her right before she cut in but didn’t take it.

The visitors first change comes on 67 as Ona is replaced by Mariona Caldenty. It’s a positive attacking substitution and she gets a good chance straight away.

Hannah needs to be alert and has to come out to be Parallelo to a long ball.

Nusken puts in a great cross but it’s headed clear by Lucy. At the other end, Jess is blocking everything and tidying up by smashing into touch.

There is another penalty appeal on 73 after Jess tackles Aitana. It looks good but the ref decides that it’s a foul and points to the spot. It’s approved by VAR who were probably making a cup of tea at the time. Rolfo scores to put them in front for the first time on 75. .

Emma makes another change on 77 as she brings on Aggie to replace Leupolz. Another attacking change. Needs to be. A big 15 minutes ahead for the Blues. She is causing problems for Barca straight away. She is fouled, winning a dangerous free kick. It’s well defended and cleared.

Emma makes her last roll of the dice on 84 as she makes 3 more changes. Going off are, LJ,Melanie Lawrence and JRK. Replacing them are Mille, Fran and Eve Perisset. Millie goes up front.

We are relieved to see CGH going off only to groan as we see that her replacement is Pina. Oops.

Selma is the token booking for Barca as she leaves a foot in on Hannah.

There are to be 6 added minutes. Come on Chels.

Aitana must have hurt herself diving as see hobbles off to be replaced by Alexia.

Chelsea get a penalty shout for a foul on Aggie. We have seen soft ones given today but not this one.

Selma gets good shot in but Hannah makes a great save to keep the Blues in it. 

They are start to hit it long as the clock runs down. Aggie gets one last cross and it’s all over. Another semi-final defeat to the Spanish Champions.

We think it’s all over

Emma's quadruple dream has gradually disappeared over the last few weeks and the double hope has vanished today and all that is left is the WSL title. It could easily have gone the other way with the chances that Chelsea squandered in Barcelona. That would have seen them start here with a comfortable lead. The game was closer than the scoreline suggests and might have been completely different with a different ref.

It wasn't the best experience either as the Shed was full of plastic Man U fans wearing Barca shirts with 22 Ona Battle on the back. Thought this was the home end! And they wouldn't sit down.

It’s a first for the Shed today that there were paper planes dropping from the Upper Tier. You bored up there? It's disappointing that the Blues aren't going to Bilbao but we are going anyway🛫😎. It’s Barca v Lyon so add 2 Lyon fans to the number.

There must have been some Arsenal fans in the home end cheering for Barca as they were singing on the way back to the tube.

Long day, headed home

The other bits

POTM: It could only be Jess carter.  A great performance and sensible solid defending against tricky opponents.  Rocketing 🚀 the ball ⚽ into the stands.  Well done Jess.  And it was never a pen 🤿.

Officially opinionated: The ref only turned up for one side today. Barca are great at playing the ref if allowed to do so and didn’t waste the chance this afternoon. The two decisions that changed the game were both poor in our opinion. The penalty was soft but then Bonmati does seem to have a balance issue when in the opposition box. Kadisha's 2nd yellow wasn’t a foul.

There were so many little decisions only going one way as well. The ball should have been dropped after it bounced off her. You can’t choose to play on or not depending on which team is impacted. Rolfo attacking Jess was by far the worst foul of the match but not dealt with at all. It’s just lucky that there wasn’t a worse outcome for Jess.

The line keeping was also poor. Flagging a goal kick when the ball didn’t go out and stopping the play for an offside before the move has finished. We are very much not fans of VAR but if it’s used ,it should be used consistently.

We could go on but can’t be bothered. We just hope that the same fixture next season is better officiated 🙏🏼.

Basil Watch: We met him outside the main entrance but didn't see or hear him again.

We're only here for the Basil

The Scran’O’meter like the pre-order system here. Once we remember how it works! We can report that all live and spare bottle tops were both confiscated. A good job that they were just decoys and several others sneaked in. Not telling how 😶.

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