Here’s Sid Lowe’s report from Camp Nou.
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Caroline Graham Hansen speaks to DAZN.
This is just too crazy, the crowd is not leaving, they are staying here to celebrate with us. It’s goosebumps all over the place. It’s been amazing, something I never dreamed of happening. In the first half I missed a really big one, in the second half, I got one and I will remember it all my life. It can make money. If we are having fun, people will want to repeat it.
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Helpful guide to what was a great game on a great occasion.
🏁 FP: @FCBfemeni 5-2 @realmadridfem (agg. 8-3)
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadridfem) March 30, 2022
⚽ Mapi León 8', Aitana 52', Claudia Pina 55', Alexia 62', Hansen 70'; @7olgacarmona 16' (p), @claudiazornoza 48'#UWCL pic.twitter.com/KafjosPlz1
There we have it, the world record.
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) March 30, 2022
HIST♀RIC
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) March 30, 2022
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Full time: Barcelona 5-2 Real Madrid (Agg: 8-3)
History made, and Barcelona showing off their class in putting away a very decent Real Madrid team who took their chances well, only for the class and weight of possession tell for the defending champions. It ended up an awesome display and a smashing win.
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90 min: One last dart for the excellent Rolfo, and she sees the goal opening up, only for her shot to be blocked at the last millisecond. Then there’s a booking for Putellas for a dive in the Real area. It was theatrical, and unnecessary considering the scoreline.
89 min: Applause all round as that attendance of 91,553 is confirmed to the crowd as a world record figure.
87 min: A chance goes missing for Bonmati. And it is worth saying that Barcelona do miss a few, which may provide some comfort for whomever faces them in the next round.
86 min: 91, 553 is the attendance announced, and that equals a record. It’s been a fine game to match the occasion, too. Real make the final change of the match as Abelleira is replaced by Florentino.
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84 min: No respite for Real as Barca push on and on and on. Rolfo, outstanding all evening, cuts down the right. Serrano is the target of a pass from Crnogorčević, but slips over. Real go down the other end, and Moller has so much space to shoot. Too much time perhaps; she misses the target.
82 min: Crnogorčević, one of those subs, fires wide as Nahikari García goes up the other end and does the same for Madrid. The game has become a tad shapeless.
81 min: That’s the last of. the action for Pina, who comes off and is replaced by Serrano. In defence, Paredes is replaced by Pereira.
79 min: Pina really does want another goal, and bends her shot beyond Misa but past the post. This is relentless and ruthless.
77 min: The prize here, of course, is a game against Wolfsburg or Arsenal. Ouahabi, just on as a sub, fancies one from distance and smashes over.
75 min: Barca still not letting up, this is a Clasico, after all.
73 min: Real Madrid changes: Peter, so busy in defence is off, as is Suava, similarly overworked, with Galves and Robles, two defenders coming on. The aim, seemingly, is to keep the score down.
71 min: That latest goals is followed by a raft of Barca subs. Hermoso, Marta and Patricia off, and on come Ouahabi, Engen and Crnogorčević
Goal! Barcelona 5-2 Real Madrid (Graham Hansen, 70) (Agg: 8-3)
The Camp Nou sounds as loud as we are used to it, little wonder when the team is purring like this. Graham Hansen gets her goal at last as Rolfo goes down the wing, cuts back from the left and it’s deflected into the path of Graham Hansen, who smashes home. A goal she deserves for a fine display.
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68 min: Barcelona want more, and so does Graham Hansen, yet to score. So does Pina, who has one already, and she pings wide.
66 min: Real make two subs: Gonzalez and Carmona off, and Garcia and Moller on.
64 min: Putellas had been quiet, but not for long. Real’s defence could not stop her though Misa will be unhappy that ball sneaked past her.
Goal! Barcelona 4-2 Real Madrid (Putellas 63) (Agg; 7-3)
She was never going to stay quiet for too long, the top scorer, who finds space and drifts into the inside-right position, then shoots. Misa gets a hand to the ball but then can’t stop it going in. Game over now, surely.
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61 min: The sting out of the game? Barcelona seem willing to sit back for the moment, though any attack leaves Real vulnerable on the counter.
58 min: The glimmer of an opening for Madrid as Oroz is looking for Athenea but they narrowly fail to link up.
57 min: It’s loud in the Camp Nou right now, as a Clasico win seems in the bag.
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Goal! Barcelona 3-2 Real Madrid (Pina, 55) (Agg: 6-3)
That’s surely that, as Pina takes control of a Rolfo pass that had gone astray and finishes with real class. The goalscorer supreme, especially against Real Madrid.
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54 min: Both halves have begun with swift exchanges of goals and the tie is back in Barca’s hands, when it looked as if it was slipping away.
Goal! Barcelona 2-2 Real Madrid (Bonmati, 52) (Agg: 5-3)
Barcelona are trying to score their way out of trouble rather than sit back. Graham Hansen cuts in from the wing, and her cross is deflected out. That sets up a Barca attack and Aitana Bonmatí cuts through, keeps her cool and slots home.
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50 min: Barcelona, a wounded animal, go up the other end and try to claim a penalty. There’s a delay for VAR but it eventually gets waved on.
Goal! Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid (Zornoza, 48) (agg; 4-3)
They are going for it, and Real have the lead in the Camp Nou. Zornoza surges on, sees the goalie off her line and thrashes the ball high and into the net. Panos has no chance of saving that, she is totally off her line. Well well.
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47 min: Another Peter clearance, this time from Ivana Andres. That sets up a Real attack and with not much else to do than go for it, they are, well, going for it.
46 min: Back underway, and can Real find their way back in. There’s been no changes from either coach. Promisingly, Real start on the front foot, attacking the end they spend so much of the first half pinned against.
The players are back on but here’s some half-time socials.
⏰ Descans al Camp Nou! 1-1 (4-2)
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) March 30, 2022
⚽ María León / Olga Carmona (p)
⚔ #FCBFemeni - @realmadridfem
🏆 1/4 @UWCL (Tornada)
🔵🔴#ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/jPpFs4did1
🤜¡¡HASTA EL FINAL!! 🤛#UWCL pic.twitter.com/5Vfie6IOeu
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadridfem) March 30, 2022
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Half-time: Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid (agg: 4-2)
The 45 minutes closes with Peter stepping across to clear, and that’s been the story of the half, plenty of attacking from Barcelona, lots of Real defending. And yet the scores are level. Just about Real’s only attack resulted in a penalty for Carmona.
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45 min: Free-kick to Barcelona, from 25 yards out. Graham Hansen takes, and it flies over. There was a pass on but glory was sought.
44 min: Hermoso is coming in for some rough treatment. Madrid are not afraid to mix it, and having to resort to fouling.
42 min: Graham Hansen continues to be busy with Madrid having untold problems in controlling her energy and movement. This time, they do so but the Norwegian has been a dominant figure in this match.
40 min: Real attempt to play their way forward out of defence but with sincere difficulty. The champions are making them work today - Barca were champions with six matches to spare, little surprise when they have won every game.
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38 min: Barcelona’s Hermoso is down, and there are whistles as play rolls on with her lying on the floor. Eventually, and without assistance, she gets back up but looks to have taken a buffeting.
36 min: A lull in play? It’s been pretty breathless stuff so far. No, Graham Hansen picks up the ball in midfield, and sprays it wide but doesn’t receive the return ball.
34 min: Real banked on their 18-yard area as Barca try to pick the lock on them.
33 min: A rare Real attack put Rolfo into somewhat unfamiliar defensive duties; she’s a wing-back by trade. She gets her day job done and can resume her role in Barca’s attack.
31 min: Rolfo now heads over from a set piece. Real coughing up chances, Barca coughing up misses.
29 min: Barca chances piling up now. Graham Hansen takes a fine pass from Rolfo that goes across the Real box, and has plenty of time to shoot but misses. Her claim for a corner is ambitious. Hard to remember this game is even on the scoreline at the moment.
28 min: Pinar turns and spin, shoots and Misa makes a fine save. It was probably offside but that was good football all round.
26 min: It’s all Barcelona now, that Real penalty came from a very rare attack, totally against the run of play. When Real try to play out, the ball keeps coming back to them. The stadium looks full now.
24 min: Rolfo scampers to the byline, real energy and the clearance is knocked to Alexia, who smashes over. That was a chance gone begging.
22 min: Hermoso is the target of a long ball. and it takes some last-ditch Madrid defending to stop her in her tracks. Both teams are pressing high and there’s plenty of energy being expended.
21 min: Penalty claim as Rolfo falls in the Real box. It’s a spurious claim, though one that receives plenty of vocal support.
20 min: A clash of heads as Graham Hansen goes over the back of her Madrid opponent, and that causes a break in play for what’s been a breathless match so far.
18 min: A fan mosaic is shown off in the stands as this game catches light, and the noise is raucous, with all the Barca colours being shown off.
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Goal! Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid (Carmona, 16 pen) (agg: 4-2)
Very calm from Carmona, left-footed, down low and beyond the reach of Panos. Game on? Game on!
Updated
Penalty to Real Madrid!
15 min: Carmona smashes the ball and on the edge of the box Paredes handles with her trailing arm.
14 min: Long way back for Real now, and they will have to play even better than in the first leg, when they fully exceeded expectations.
12 min: Free-kick chance for Barca, from the inside left position. Graham Hansen whacks it into the wall, and then whacks it back into the wall on the rebound.
11 min: Barcelona resume play by continuing to dominate possession. Pinar is brought down as a yellow card goes to Real’s Lucia Rodriguez.
9 min: That goal had more than a hint of a cross, and that put the Real goalie, Misa, in two minds. Leon looked surprised to score it, too, but she has given Barca full command of the tie at 4-1 on aggregate.
Goal! Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid (Leon, 9) (agg: 4-1)
Graham escapes down the right for Barca, cutting in, only for the ball to be hurried away behind. Peter is forced to nod away the corner, and the ball comes out to María Pilar León, who loops her shot in, and into the net. The pressure tells, and quickly, too.
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6 min: A pitch-side view shows those big banks at Camp Nou filling up, though not quite there. Hermoso meanwhile tries to find a way through as Barca push on, Real very much on the back foot.
4 min: A Real attack, stopped by Barcelona’s Paredes. Carles Puyol is looking on, heavy metal hair resplendent, his black mask adding an extra edge of hard-rock energy.
2 min: Barcelona begin with pressure, and Real’s Peter has to make a heroic block to stop a long-range-effort winging in on goal.
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1 min: And away we go, without much further ado, the crowd not all quite in the stadium it seems. The home fans are singing that terrace anthem to the tune of Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer.
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Jonatan Giráldez, the Barcelona coach speaks.
We have to do wha T we do in every game, in attack and defence: play our own game. We aren’t just satisfied with going through; we want to win every game we play. It was amazing as we were arriving, I hope the supporters enjoy. We can do better, it’s a normal week, the only difference is the stadium, we are lucky to play here. But nothing changes, we have to do the same. It will be a special day.
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Alberto Toril, the Madrid coach speaks.
“I’m sure that we’ll put in a good performance. The girls are really excited and firmly believe that they’re capable of competing well. We already saw that in the first leg, which was pretty evenly matched and there were spells when we were on top. We’ve improved with every game and have come very close.”
To say it’s packed outside the Camp Nou would be an understatement. The walkways round the stadium are filled with fans. It’s the Barcelona Women’s team’s first ever match there in a competitive match, and the estimates now reaching up to 96,000 in the stadium. That could be a world record.
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Should you be inclined, there’s some first-leg highlights available.
First out issue, out today! First issue, out today!
So, in the months leading up to the next Euros and in a week in which up to 85,000 fans are expected to flood into the Camp Nou to watch the European champions Barcelona play at the ground for the first time, against Real Madrid in the Champions League and potentially setting a record attendance for a club game, it feels apt that we are launching a weekly women’s football newsletter – the first by a UK national newspaper.
Looks like it’s busy outside Camp Nou for that sell-out match.
"Nobody cares about women's sport" pic.twitter.com/d3qXgxmVKu
— Molly McElwee (@molly_mcelwee) March 30, 2022
That team news
For Barcelona: two changes from the first leg, with Paredes and Pina, who both came on as substitute in Madrid, coming back into the starting eleven. Ouahabi and Pereira drop to the bench.
For Real Madrid: just one alteration. Ivana Andres, the captain, comes in.
Here are the teams
1️⃣1️⃣ #FCBFemeni OFICIAL #ElClásico
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) March 30, 2022
👌 @stanleytools
💙❤️ #ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/hjTL6rUlMf
📋✅ ¡Nuestro 𝗫𝗜 inicial 🆚 @FCBfemeni!
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadridfem) March 30, 2022
🔢 Our starting 𝗫𝗜 🆚 @FCBfemeni!
✨ #UWCL | @UnicajaBanco pic.twitter.com/sbTmcs1KQc
Sid Lowe wrote this week about the Barcelona machine.
Barcelona have won 75 of their past 78 games, yet this starts with defeat, or so the story goes. They were at the airport waiting fly home from the 2019 Champions League final, where they were defeated by Lyon, when the players approached the then coach Lluís Cortés and demanded to do whatever it took. In the words of the then captain Vicky Losada, that meant “more … everything”. Unfortunate to lose the semi-final the following season, they were victorious in Gothenburg last year. It had been coming.
Preamble
Spanish football is the place to be in the women’s game, with the national team the favourites for the summer’s Euros, and that’s mostly because of Barcelona, who breezed to won last year’s Champions League. This year, they are unassailable in La Liga, having won all of their 25 matches as part of an overall 100 percent record for the season. Real Madrid’s women’s team languish in fourth and have almost as great a mountain to climb in this fixture, where they are 3-1 down from the first leg, a match where Real actually took the lead and made life difficult for Barca. There will be a capacity crowd for this one.
Real led at the break and were dreaming of a monumental triumph only for that to be dashed in controversial circumstances less than 10 minutes into the second half.
Kick-off is at 5.45pm BST
