Women’s Champions League Second Legs: What Happened?
Sunday saw Barcelona and Chelsea book their places in the Champions League Final that will take place in Gothenburg on the 16th May.
Barcelona v Paris Saint Germain
Barcelona hosted PSG on Sunday after the first leg in Paris finished 1-1.
Barcelona managed to win the second leg 2-1 with two goals from Lieke Martens. The first goal came in the 8th minute, when Martens run through onto a ball from Leila Ouahabi and places the ball into the far corner of the PSG net.
The second goal for Barcelona and Martens came in the 31st minute when a low cross from the right side from Caroline Hansen managed to reach the back post for Martens to tap home.
PSG got one back three minutes later, when Barcelona failed to deal with a corner, which allowed Marie-Antionette Kato to poke it past Sandra Panos in the Barcelona goal.
PSG looked for the goal that would have sent them through on away goals, but Barcelona managed to hold on to win 3-2 on aggregate.
Chelsea v Bayern Munich
Chelsea went into the game 2-1 down from the first leg.
The game on Sunday ended 4-1 to Chelsea, which might suggest an easy game, but it was anything but.
A lovely move from Chelsea gave them the lead in the 11th minute. Sam Kerr gave Fran Kirby the ball in Chelsea’s half. Kirby drove with the ball into the Bayern half, passing to Kerr who then gave the ball back to Kirby who had made a run into the box. Kirby collected the ball and then fired past Laura Benkarth in the Bayern goal.
The second goal of the game was an unbelievable strike from Bayern Munich’s number 25 Sarah Zadrazil who was waiting on the edge of the box when a clearance from the Chelsea defence reached her. Zadrazil controlled the ball and then struck a half volley that hit the underside of the crossbar and went into the Chelsea net leaving Ann-Katrin Berger in the Chelsea goal with no chance.
Ji So-Yun managed to put Chelsea ahead in the game and level on aggregate before half time. Ji took a free kick right of centre and drove the ball into the wall, but when the ball rebounded back Ji hit the ball low and an unsighted Bayern keeper could not stop it going into the bottom corner.
At half time, the game was level on aggregate and if it remained the same would have headed to extra time.
In the 84th minute, Chelsea went 4-3 ahead on aggregate when Pernille Harder headed Jess Carter’s free kick past an unmoved Benkarth.
Bayern pressed for a goal that would have sent them through on away goals. In the 90 minute there was a scramble on the Chelsea goal line, with Chelsea defending their goal astutely to achieve their dream of reaching the Champions League final.
