Chelsea have a mountain to climb in their Women’s Champions League semi-final tie against Barcelona after slipping to a flat first-leg defeat on home soil on Saturday lunchtime. A strong crowd of 27,697 - a British record for a European game - were at Stamford Bridge for a heavyweight clash, but were silenced by a sensational fourth-minute strike from Norwegian forward Caroline Hansen Graham.
Emma Hayes’ hosts initially rallied well after falling behind early, with Guro Reiten seeing an effort ruled out for offside and also having a shot cleared off the line by Lucy Bronze, who later limped off with a knee injury in the latest pre-World Cup injury concern for England and Sarina Wiegman. Substitute Marta Torrejon hit the post with a header late on, but Barca could not find a second goal despite all their dominance after the interval.
But they will still be enormous favourites to progress next week and reach their third consecutive European final in Eindhoven on June 3. Follow Chelsea vs Barcelona reaction live below, with analysis from Standard Sport’s Dom Smith at the Bridge.
