Chelsea Women will travel to Estadi Johan Cruyff for Saturday's Women's Champions League semi-final first leg against reigning European champions Barcelona Women.
The Blues eliminated Manchester City in the quarter-final stage, while the Blaugrana made light work of Wolfsburg to seal their spot in the last four.
Match preview
© Imago
Barcelona remain the team to beat in European competition, having won the Women's Champions League in three of the previous four seasons, including back-to-back triumphs in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
The Blaugrana may have lost to Manchester City in their UWCL opener in October, but they quickly recovered to take maximum points from their next five European matches to advance to the quarter-final stage as Group D winners.
Pere Romeu's side enjoyed more success in their two-legged affair against Wolfsburg, claiming a 4-1 away win in the first leg, before cruising to a 6-1 victory in the return fixture, sending them into the semi-finals via a 10-2 aggregate scoreline.
Having already lifted the Spanish Super Cup, Barcelona have aspirations of replicating last season's quadruple, given the fact that they are in the UWCL semi-finals, the Copa de la Reina final and are seven points clear at the top of Liga F.
After returning from the international break with two commanding home league wins, Barcelona will be fully focused on their 10th European semi-final appearance and their third consecutive last-four meeting with Chelsea.
The Catalan giants will certainly take confidence from the fact that they recorded 2-1 aggregate wins in both of those two semi-final clashes against the Blues, although they did fall to a narrow 1-0 home defeat in last season's home leg.
However, they have had no such issues in their European home games this season, having won their four UWCL home matches by a combined 25-1 scoreline, including a 3-0 win over Man City in December.
© Imago
Like their hosts, Chelsea are also dreaming of completing a quadruple, with the Blues looking to add the Women's Super League title, FA Cup and Champions League to the League Cup that they have already won this season.
The Blues returned from the international break with a narrow 2-1 home victory against Liverpool in last Saturday's FA Cup semi-final tie, where Aggie Beever-Jones netted a stoppage-time winner to set up a final clash against Manchester United.
Chelsea will now be fully focused on their UWCL obligations, with the WSL leaders set to make their sixth appearance in a European semi-final.
Sonia Bompastor's side cruised through the group stage with six consecutive wins, before they overturned a two-goal first-leg deficit in their quarter-final clash against Manchester City with a 3-0 victory in the return fixture at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are now hoping to progress from a European semi-final tie for the second time in their history and their first time since recording a 5-3 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich in the 2021-22 competition.
The Blues recorded a 1-0 win in last season's trip to Barcelona, but they may find it difficult to keep a clean sheet this time around, having conceded in each of their four European away games this season.
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- D
- W
Team News
© Imago
Barcelona attacker Kika Nazareth is out for the rest of the season after she sustained an ankle injury in last month's Copa de la Reina semi-final win over Real Madrid.
After rotating his squad for Wednesday's 5-1 win over Sevilla, Romeu will make wholesale changes for Sunday's crucial clash against Chelsea, which should see Ona Batlle, Irene Paredes, Mapi Leon, and Esmee Brugts come into the side to form the back four.
Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas will return to the midfield, while Caroline Graham Hansen and Salma Paralluelo should feature in the front three with Ewa Pajor.
As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon Sophie Ingle, Femke Liefting, Zecira Musovic, Kadiesha Buchanan and Sam Kerr.
Key attacker Lauren James is unavailable for selection after she missed the recent FA Cup semi-final with a hamstring injury that she sustained on international duty with England.
Naomi Girma and Maelys Mpome are pushing to prove their fitness in time for the first leg, while Guro Reiten should be among the substitutes after returning from injury to make a late substitute appearance in the win over Liverpool.
Barcelona Women possible starting lineup:
Coll; Batlle, Paredes, Leon, Brugts; Bonmati, Guijarro, Putellas; Graham Hansen, Paralluelo, Pajor
Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Hampton; Bronze, Bjorn, Bright, Baltimore; Walsh, Cuthbert; Rytting Kaneryd, Kaptein, Beever-Jones; Ramirez
We say: Barcelona Women 2-1 Chelsea Women
Barcelona have won each of their four UWCL home games this season, and while they will face a tough test in the first leg against Chelsea, we believe that the hosts will make full use of home advantage to take a narrow lead to Stamford Bridge.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
