Barcelona on Sunday became the first Spanish side to win the UEFA Women’s Champions League with a stunning performance to thrash Chelsea 4-0 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The La Liga champions scored all four goals inside 36 minutes as a Melanie Leupolz own-goal, Alexia Putellas’ penalty, and simple finishes from Aitana Bonmati and Caroline Graham Hansen killed the game as a contest.
Barca had romped to the Spanish title with a 100 percent record after 26 games in La Liga, boasting a plus-123 goal-difference.
Photo: AFP
“Congratulations, champions, you are unstoppable,” Barcelona president Joan Laporta wrote on Twitter. “You are a reference. You are an example. You are one of the big reasons that make Barca more than a club. You moved us with your magnificent victory.”
Chelsea had been on course for a quadruple, but even the big-spending English champions were no match for the Catalans’ speed of thought and movement.
“Today was difficult because the game was over before it began,” Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said. “We will learn from because this is the next step up. I thought we showed some naivety at times. We’re not quite European champions yet, but we are the second-best team in Europe and I’ll take that as a step in the right direction.”
The Blues were rocked after just 33 seconds when, after Lieke Martens’ shot came back off the crossbar, Fran Kirby’s attempted clearance looped into her own net off the unlucky Leupolz.
Chelsea were then shell-shocked when Jenni Hermoso went down under Leupolz’s challenge and Putellas confidently slotted home the spot-kick.
A brilliant team move made it 3-0 when Martens fed Hermoso, who drilled a pass into the path of Bonmati and she beat Ann-Katrin Berger from close range.
Martens was toying with Chelsea rightback Niamh Charles and the Netherlands international laid the fourth on a plate for Hansen to tap into an empty net.
Two years ago, it was Barca who found themselves 4-0 down after just 30 minutes against a dominant Olympique Lyonnais Feminin side in the Champions League final in Budapest.
“We deserve it. It has been a lot of work since the final in Budapest. We had a goal to get back to the final and win it, and we’ve done it,” said Bonmati, who won player of the match.
The French giants had won the competition in the previous five seasons, but their reign was ended by Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals, who were then eliminated by Barcelona.
Chelsea will be hoping to show similar resilience to come back and win the competition for the first time, as they missed out on becoming the first English side to become European champions since Arsenal in 2007.
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