Chelsea’s hopes of achieving the quadruple ended on a miserable afternoon at Stamford Bridge when they were thumped by Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Trailing 4-1 on aggregate after the first leg, Chelsea had a mountain to climb on home turf but the task of overhauling the deficit soon became all-but impossible as they fell further behind to lose 4-1 on the day, 8-2 on aggregate, to an irrepressible Barcelona side who progressed to their fifth successive Champions League final.
After a bright Chelsea start, Aitana Bonmati opened the scoring in the first half, beating Hannah Hampton at the Chelsea goalkeeper’s near post with a sweetly struck shot. Ewa Pajor scored from close range before Claudia Pina’s brilliant finish into the top corner before the break put Barcelona out of sight against the reigning Women’s Super League leaders, who are on the cusp of a sixth straight league title.
Claudia Pina celebrates scoring Barcelona’s third goal (Warren Little/Getty Images)
Sloppy defending contributed to Barcelona’s fourth, a Salma Paralluelo tap-in in the 90th minute, before Chelsea scored their first through Wieke Kaptein seconds later.
The Athletic’s Charlotte Harpur, Megan Feringa and Michael Cox were at Stamford Bridge.
