Resilient, street-smart and clinical when it mattered, Chelsea launched the most audacious smash and grab on European champions Barcelona to take a one goal advantage back to Stamford Bridge as they bid to reach the Champions League final in Emma Hayes’s final season in charge.
It was the captain, Erin Cuthbert, that would fire them ahead at the end of the first half, a player who less than 24 hours before had said these games bring out the best in her. “I thrive on this pressure, it brings out a different side of me, a different animal,” she said.
The feat was made all the more remarkable by the fact that Barcelona had not lost since May last year and not lost in the Champions League since a 3-1 group stage loss to Bayern Munich in December 2022.
Hayes had said the playing away in the first leg was her preference ahead of the tie, “but it’s only a preference if we make it count,” she cautioned. “My team know what they have to do and that they need to stay diligent to those things to have the best chance.”
They made it count.
Hayes set them up unconventionally for a team so used to dominating, with Ashley Lawrence and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd the wing-backs either side of Jess Carter, Kadeisha Buchanan and Niamh Charles in a back five. It would turn out to be an inspired move.
“We expect Barcelona to dominate the ball – that’s what they do, no matter the opponent,” Hayes said before kick-off. “So defending is what every opponent has to do well. We have to be brave and decisive when opportunities present themselves.”
Chelsea know what it takes to come away from Barcelona having denied the mercurial and fluid champions a win. Last season they earned a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou, but the damage had been done in the 2-1 home defeat, Barcelona having not had to step up a gear as Chelsea laboured, and it was the Blaugrana that progressed to the final they would go on to win.
In the 2021 final between the pair, Chelsea were punished for mistakes early on, an own goal and a penalty conceded on the way to a 4-0 defeat with all four goals scored inside 36 minutes.
This is a slightly different Barcelona though, one that had conceded four to Benfica in a 4-4 draw in the group stage and one that conceded twice to Brann in the quarter-finals. Maybe, just maybe, they weren’t as infallible as they once were.
At the Estadi Olímpic this was a more street-smart Chelsea and the centre-back three were superb in limiting the home team’s chances. By the break Barça had had five attempts on goal but none on target. Chelsea though, had one effort on target and were one goal up.
The first half played out like the most intense of chess matches, but it was the drive of Sjoeke Nüsken and the terrier-like hunger of Cuthbert that would stun the home crowd five minutes before the end of the half. A Charles throw-in was met by Irene Paredes but under pressure from Mayra Ramírez her pass was intercepted by Lawrence, the wing-back pulled it back to Cuthbert whose first-time pass found Nüsken in space, she controlled it, turned, and returned to Cuthbert, who took two steps to take her away from Ingrid Engen before lashing in with ferocity.
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The home crowd of 36,428 fans was stunned, the pocket of Blues tucked high into the upper tier watching through a perspex shield barely audible in their empathic celebrations.
The task now? Hold on. Disaster struck just six minutes after the restart when Patri Guijarro’s effort came back off the outstretched arm of Buchanan. Stéphanie Frappart pointed to the spot before a lengthy wait for a VAR check eventually concluded with Salma Paralluelo adjudged to have been offside as the ball struck Buchanan’s arm.
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Chelsea were savvy with their game management, frustrating the home team and the home crowd.
They continued to soak up the pressure and look dangerous on the break and would go agonisingly close to extending their lead when Ramírez was released through the middle, half shrugging free of Guijarro before firing over.
They were clinging on at the end as Barça pushed for the goal that would reset the tie ahead of the second leg, but Hayes’s side defended collectively, bodies on the line to hold onto their lead, Alexia Putellas firing wide from close range with the final kick of the game. There were only muted celebrations though, the job half done.