Emma Hayes insisted her side did not suffer as much as they might have, despite Chelsea falling to a 1-0 defeat at home to Barcelona in their Women’s Champions League semi-final first-leg tie.
The Blues were beaten at Stamford Bridge by Caroline Graham Hansen’s superb fourth-minute goal — meaning they were unable to avenge their 4-0 defeat at the hands of Barca in the 2021 final. The second leg on Thursday will see Chelsea play at the 99,000-seater Camp Nou.
Asked whether Chelsea suffered as much as she suspected they would, Hayes replied: “Actually, I didn’t think it was too bad. Yes, they had a lot of the ball, but we put them in the areas we wanted them to be in. The goal came from a quick restart for them. I didn’t see anything I don’t already know.
“They’re an amazing team,” she said of the visitors. “We had a disappointing start. We gave away a 0.03xG [expected goals] chance. That’s brilliant individual play. But we grew into the first half, scored a goal that was offside through Guro [Reiten]. As I say, you have to be perfect to beat these guys.”
Reflecting on the balance of the tie, Hayes said: “It’s 1-0. I’m grateful to be in a place where the tie isn’t over. You have to be in the tie — we’re in the tie. Now we have to prepare for another game.
“That’s my big message. Stay in the tie. The team — as a whole — defended as well as we could. The first 10 minutes was, for me, the problem. We weren’t aggressive enough.”
Chelsea were without first-choice centre-back pairing Kadeisha Buchanan and Millie Bright against Barcelona, with both defenders unavailable through injury.
Asked whether the pair might have made a difference, Hayes shrugged and said: “I can’t know that, can I? We’ve got to be better going forward. There’s no issues with us defensively.”
