Chelsea end five-year Barcelona run as incredible stats emerge from Champions League win
Chelsea ended Barcelona's five-year unbeaten run at home with a 1-0 win in the Women's Champions League semi-final first leg on Saturday.
And that does not even begin to do Emma Hayes' team justice after stopping Barcelona from even having a shot on target during the first leg of their European encounter in Spain.
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Barcelona have averaged four goals a game in the Champions League this season and have been unbeaten at home since February 2019 -but could not break down Chelsea's defence.
They have also scored an astonishing 102 goals in 23 league matches where they are nine points clear of Real Madrid in the LaLiga F table.
But their star-studded attack including 2023 Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati, two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas and World Cup bright star Salma Paralluelo failed to hit a single shot on target as they crumbled to defeat for the first time at home in five years.
Erin Cuthbert scored the winner in the first half at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys when she finished off a fine team move after Sjoeke Nusken fed her the ball just inside the box.
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Putellas had a glorious chance to equalise in the last seconds but sliced her effort wide before dropping to her knees in disbelief and means Barca have a task on their hands to overturn the deficit in London.
And with Hayes hoping to go out with a bang at Chelsea as she prepares to leave at the end of the season, winning the Champions League would be a huge success.
Having won six Women's Super League titles, and a strong chance at a seventh, the Champions League has always been the one that has proved just out of reach.
The Blues finished runners-up in 2021 in the first final they have managed to get to in Europe before losing 4-0 to Barcelona - and revenge is surely on the mind ahead of the second leg.
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At home, Hayes' side have something to work with after their record-smashing victory and will meet on April 27 but will still need to be at the top of their game.
Barcelona have reached four of the last five finals in the competition, winning two, as well as knocking Chelsea out at the semi-finals last year.
Lianne Sanderson praises Barcelona Women and compares their style of play to Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team with Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets
Chelsea set up with a back-five on Saturday, including Niamh Charles in an auxiliary centre-back role.
And it worked as it stifled Barcelona's attack, though there was a hair-raising moment when Kadeisha Buchanan was penalised for handball in the penalty box.
However, VAR intervened and revealed that there was an offside in the build-up and awarded a free-kick the other way.
If Chelsea can hang on and reach the final next week, this will surely go down as one of Hayes' best performances in her nine years at the club.
She takes over the United States women's national team in the summer while Lyon coach Sonia Bompastor has been linked as a replacement.
The French side are also in the Champions League and take on Paris Saint-Germain in the other semi-final, meaning the two clubs could meet in Bilbao when the final takes place next month.
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