Barcelona Femeni had an uphill battle on their hands as they took on Chelsea Women in the Champions League semi-finals second-leg. Trailing 1-0 from the first-leg in the Catalan capital, the blaugranes were facing a sold-out crowd at the Stamford Bridge yesterday.
And this is when stepped up Aitana Bonmati, more than anyone else.
The Ballon d’Or holder and the protagonist of this Barcelona side, she ran the show against Chelsea as the visitors scraped a 0-2 win (1-2 on agg.) and qualified for the Champions League final, with the first goal from Bonmati herself, and the second from Fridolina Roflo.
She started as the right central midfielder in Jonatan Giraldez’s 4-3-3, playing alongside Keira Walsh and Patricia Guijarro. Lucy Bronze and Ona Batlle flanked the defensive quartet as full-backs, while Ingrid Engen and Irene Paredes screened Catalina Coll as centre-backs.
Despite playing as a left-winger for most of the season, 20-year-old Salma Paralluelo started as the striker, with Carolina Graham Hansen to her right, and Fridolina Rolfo to the left.
Barça starting XI vs Chelsea.
Midfield wins games…and trophies
With no sight of the deadlock being broken by the 25th-minute mark, Bonmati took matters into her own hands.
As the Barcelona attack tried to conjure up something with crosses into the box, Bonmati received the second ball, and immediately tried to control the midfield by asking them not to play directly.
She then split two of the Chelsea centre-backs, and ran into the box off-the-ball, and he run was spotted by captain Patricia Guijarro.
The Spaniard then dodged Niamh Charles, cut on to her right, drove in, and took a shot at goal, that took a slight deflection and found its way into the bottom corner.
All three Barcelona midfielders combined for this goal, and played a vital role in seeing the game out, as well, especially after going 2-0 up.
As Chelsea tried to press and get one back, the Barça midfield were calm under pressure and passed…
Source link : https://barcauniversal.com/chelsea-women-0-2-barcelona-femeni-important-lessons-the-mens-team-can-learn/
Author : Udhav Arora
Publish date : 2024-04-28 17:23:25
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