Chelsea’s hopes of winning a first Women’s Champions League title were ended as Barcelona overturned a first-leg deficit to win 2-0 at Stamford Bridge and progress to the final.
Fridolina Rolfo fired home from the penalty spot with 15 minutes to play to complete the defending champions’ fightback and seal a 2-1 aggregate victory, after Emma Hayes’ side had been made to endure the final half-hour with 10 players following the sending-off of Kadeisha Buchanan.
Barca had already levelled the tie via a fine finish from Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati by the time the Chelsea defender saw red. Reaching for a loose ball inside the centre circle, she landed a foot on the ankle of Patri Guijarro and referee Iuliana Demetrescu did not hesitate in showing a second yellow card.
Our Champions League journey comes to an end.#UWCL pic.twitter.com/6SOHvYLVFj
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) April 27, 2024
In Hayes’ final season in charge at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea battled gamely to give their outgoing manager the chance to depart on a high in next month’s final in Bilbao.
But despite Barca being camped in their own half, time ran out on the home side who bowed out in the last four for the second season running.
The first 20 minutes passed almost entirely without incident before Hannah Hampton was finally forced into a save, dropping low to gather Caroline Graham Hansen’s tame right-foot volley from the edge of the box.
The game needed a moment of skill or fortune to crack it open, and on 25 minutes it got both. The ball was played into the feet of Bonmati, who with a clever step-over outfoxed Niamh Charles before hitting a shot that deflected against the outstretched leg of Buchanan and beyond Hampton’s reach to level the tie.
Barcelona had found their stride but Chelsea almost hit back immediately. Catarina Macario slipped a ball through the left channel to Lauren James, who cut the ball back from the byline for the unmarked Melanie Leupolz. Six yards out and with the goal at her mercy, she pulled back her left foot and sent an effort crashing against the face of the crossbar.
Macario was next to go close, pulling the ball out of the air and shooting brilliantly from 20 yards, denied by a fine low save from Cata Coll.
A superb chance to level arrived just before the hour. James sent a raking ball into the left channel where Ashley Lawrence was arriving to collect. She cut it back for Nusken, whose shot on the slide zipped off the wet surface and spun agonisingly against the outside of the post.
Chelsea’s hope hung in the balance moments later with the dismissal of Buchanan.
Then came the penalty award, Jess Carter with an arm in the back of Bonmati who then tumbled over Lawrence. VAR checked and saw nothing wrong with the decision, and up stepped Rolfo to send Hampton the wrong way.
Captain Mille Bright was thrown on for her first appearance since November, the defender playing the final 10 minutes as an emergency centre-forward.
But it was not be for Hayes, who will depart Chelsea next month without having delivered for her side the European crown.