Chelsea find the antidote to stop Barça at Stamford Bridge

BarcelonaChelsea, playing before a sparse crowd of 11,000 at Stamford Bridge, managed to hold Barcelona to a 1-1 draw, just months after suffering a heavy defeat in the Champions League semi-finals last season. The home side took the lead with a superb goal from Carpenter, while Pajor, with her eleventh goal of the season and third in three Champions League matches, secured the draw. It was a hard-fought match in London, with plenty of midfield battles and no clear dominance from either side. The draw keeps Barcelona at the top of the Champions League group stage with 10 points, the same as Jonatan Giráldez's Olympique Lyonnais. The match was characterized by its evenness and intensity. The English would be the first to strike, although before taking the lead, Barça had found an opening in a play resulting from the connection between Pina - who would thread a delightful pass - and Graham Hansen, who could not get a clean shot away due to the opposition of the defense blueThe home side responded to this initial threat from Barça with a stunning goal from Carpenter, the right winger, who punished the Barça defense when they were caught out of position. It wasn't an easy task for Barça at Stamford Bridge, but neither the goal (nor the London cold) would intimidate the Catalan team. Pajor celebrated the equalizer, but only for a few seconds. The Polish player fired a good shot across goal, but the goal was disallowed for offside. The Barça striker, who was making her second consecutive start after recovering from her knee injury, was able to celebrate with gusto minutes later.

If the home side had taken the lead barely fifteen minutes in, Barça responded less than ten minutes later from a set piece, capitalizing on a corner. Aleixandri, a tireless fighter in a complex midfield battle, contested a ball in the heart of the area, and the rebound, after two clever touches to set up her shot, fell to Pajor, who connected with a scramble to level the score. The Barça goal, however, didn't translate into a step forward in their play, as Chelsea sharpened their knives and began to lay siege to Cata Coll's goal. Sonia Bompastor's team, the only manager to have won the Champions League both as a player and coach, pressed Barça's build-up play, causing nerves and inaccuracies. The goalkeeper from Pòrtol had to work hard, alertly, to parry crosses from two former Barcelona players, Walsh and Bronze, and stop shots from the hungry home side.

Electric save at Stamford Bridge

Pere Romeu's team couldn't tame the beast that is Chelsea this time, losing possession easily under pressure from their opponents. A poor clearance from the back almost resulted in a 2-1 scoreline. Luckily for Barça, Kaptein's shot hit the post. The more and better they attacked the English side, the more a technical problem with the generators at Stamford Bridge gave Barça an unexpected respite. With the score at 1-1 and around the 40th minute, the stadium screens stopped working, as did the television signal.

The referee, Swedish Teff Olofsson, approached the players from both teams and explained that there was a problem with the electrical supply on the pitch and that they would have to wait. After almost 10 minutes of uncertainty, the players from both teams—some had even put on their coats—returned to their positions and the match resumed. Romeu tried to take advantage of this break A goal arrived from the heavens to try and correct things, and the score remained tied at halftime.

After the break, the game became bogged down, with Barça having more possession but failing to create clear chances. The home side were the ones who threatened the goal most often. Carpenter squandered a counter-attack and a point-blank shot with 10 minutes remaining, while Macario saw her chances denied by a marginal offside call after a VAR review.