Barcelona vs. Chelsea, Women's Champions League: Preview, team news, how to watch

19/04/2025 22:07

Semifinal, first leg

Well, here it is. We've arrived at the hurdle at which we've fallen so many times in recent years — three of the last four in fact.

For the third year in a row, we're facing Barcelona in the semifinals of the Women's Champions League. We've beaten them just once in those four games, losing 2-1 on aggregate both times. And of course we also lost to them in the 2021 final.

Chelsea have been the dominant force in England, but Barcelona are the dominant force in Europe. They've reached the final of this competition the last four years, winning it three times, including the last two.

Some of Chelsea's greatest nights as a football club have come at the expense of Barcelona, and if we can pull this off, this would be the latest chapter in that wonderful tome.

But if you come at the king, or the queen, you best not miss.

Date / Time: Sunday, April 20, 2025, 17.00 BST; 12pm EDT; 9:30pm IST
Venue: Estadi Johan Cruyff, Barcelona, Spain
Referee: Kulcsár Katalin (on pitch); Bognár Tamás (VAR) — don't let me down, fellow Hungarians!
Forecast: Sunny and warm, but a bit breezy

On TV: TNT Sports 1 (UK); none (USA); elsewhere
Streaming:DAZN (UK/USA); YouTube (int'l) — should be free either way

Barcelona team news: Barcelona are only getting better and more dominant, it would appear, and all the stars we've come to know all too well are still here: Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí, Caroline Graham Hansen, Salma Paralluelo, Mapi León, the list goes on and on and on. There may be a new head coach, assistant Pere Romeu taking over from Jonatan Giráldez who went to coach in the US at the Washington Spirit, but that's a minor difference.

This is the team who could allow Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh to leave and join Chelsea, and who could replace Mariona Caldentey, now at Arsenal, with Ewa Pajor from Wolfsburg (our previous bogey team), and not skip a beat. Pajor in fact leads the team with 35 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions, though it's young Clàudia Pina who leads their scoring charts in Europe. As if they needed more threats.

Barcelona have just about wrapped up their sixth consecutive Liga F title, having already collected this year's Supercopa, and are in the finals of both the Copa de la Reina and the Copa Catalunya. They are the favorites for every single match they play, and rightly so.

Unlike Chelsea, Barca did lose one of their group stage games, 2-0 to Manchester City, but they've been absolutely rampant since, including a 10-1 (ten!) aggregate victory against Wolfsburg in the quarterfinals. Since conceding twice against City, they've conceded just three times altogether, while scoring 36 goals. That's not a typo: 36 goals in seven games, an average of over five a game.

Graham Hansen is the only injury doubt of note, after missing Saturday's training through illness.

"There is a big rivalry between us because over the last four or five years, there have been lot of big games between us. But it's a healthy rivalry, not bad, in football terms. They are good games. In these games I always say we can enjoy the football because we have good opponent in front of us who make us better and better."

-Aitana Bonmatí; source: ESPN

Chelsea team news: It's quite remarkable that Sonia Bompastor has been able to make Chelsea as dominant as we have been considering all the injuries we've had to deal with this season. Her reward for that is what may be the toughest challenge yet, with Lauren James ruled out of at least the first leg, but probably both legs with a hamstring injury picked up on international duty. Sam Kerr still isn't back either, but hopefully Guro Reiten and Naomi Girma can both feature. They've both been deemed fit and have traveled with the squad.

Barca's head coach highlighted the threat of Mayra Ramírez, and she can indeed be absolutely unstoppable at times — at least through legal means, so hopefully the refereeing crew will on point.

"It's a huge game. We are really excited. We've had all week to prepare for the game, which was really good to work on the gameplan. We feel ready to go. Really excited. We are playing one of the best teams, if not the best team, in Europe. As players, but also as managers, we want to be involved in these games."

-Sonia Bompastor; source: Chelsea FC

Previously: We beat Barcelona in the away leg last year, but that's our only win against them in five tries.