It is an insight into Barcelona’s relentless pursuit of perfection that they were not content after their dominant win over Chelsea on Saturday.
A fourth-minute wonder-strike by Caroline Graham Hansen proved the difference between the teams in their Women’s Champions League semi-final first-leg at Stamford Bridge.
Even though Barca were seldom troubled by Chelsea, their midfield anchor, England’s Keira Walsh, had hoped to head into Thursday’s home leg with a bigger lead.
“We could have scored more, considering the amount of possession we had,” Walsh admitted.
“Chelsea are hard to break down. On the transition, they are probably one of the best teams in the world. It was a big test. We’re happy with taking this win back to Camp Nou. We always score a lot of goals there, so hopefully we can do that on Thursday.”
Emma Hayes was upbeat about the complexion of the tie. She had her first-choice centre-back pairing of Millie Bright and Kadeisha Buchanan unavailable through injury, so a 1-0 defeat by the hot favourites for this competition bore positives.
“Actually, I didn’t think it was too bad — I’m grateful to be in a place where the tie isn’t over,” Hayes reflected. “That was my message: stay in the tie. We’re in the tie.”
While Chelsea knocked out holders Lyon in the previous round, it is Barca who have rightly been seen as favourites for European glory all season. They have won all 25 league matches, scoring 105 goals and conceding just five.
“They’re an amazing team,” Hayes added. “We had a disappointing start, and you have to be perfect to beat these guys.”
Barcelona have won every home match since October 2018, but Chelsea rightly took positives from their one-goal defeat.
Barca’s Lucy Bronze had to be substituted in the second half and hobbled down the tunnel. That will have panicked Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman, who has already lost Beth Mead and captain Leah Williamson to knee injuries.
But Bronze later returned to the dugout with her knee heavily iced and was later seen walking freely to the team coach.
