Now they meet again and, based on the stats, the gap has only grown in the last few months.
Chelsea’s semi-final thrashing last season came towards the end of a domestic campaign where they swept all before them. Sonia Bompastor led them to a treble, while they became the first side to complete a 22-match Women’s Super League season unbeaten.
In 2024-25, Chelsea only dropped points in three WSL matches. So far this term they have failed to win three of nine league games already.
“We are not where we want to be, we always want to be at the top,” Bompastor told her pre-match media conference on Wednesday. “We know what we need to do, now turning words into actions.
“We need to be efficient and clinical, create opportunities and big chances. Compared to the stats of last season we are underachieving, we are not happy when we don’t win games.”
Apart from a shock league defeat by Real Sociedad on 2 November, Barcelona have been their usual all-conquering selves.
They have won every other game this season – including a particularly eye-catching 7-1 thumping of Bayern Munich to open their Champions League campaign. In Liga F, they have scored 51 goals in 11 games, conceding twice, to sit six points clear at the top.
“We expect to have a tough game in moments, with not as many opportunities as in some other games,” added Bompastor.
“When you play a Champions League game at Stamford Bridge, the motivation is high.”
The concerns over Barcelona’s squad in the summer – 13 players left on permanent transfers with only two arriving – has abated for now.
The fact that 10 players in their 19-woman first-team squad are in the final year of their contracts – including key figures like Cata Coll, Mapi Leon, Alexia Putellas and Caroline Graham Hansen – is a story for another day.
So how do Chelsea finally earn a meaningful win over Barcelona?
Cuthbert was key to the only time they emerged victorious, scoring in that victory 18 months ago in Spain.
“I remember being up for it from the first minute,” she recalled. “The girls were closing spaces well. We weren’t jumping out, but I think when the time came to be aggressive and win the ball back, we won the ball back in high areas.
“We spooked them a little bit, and I think they found it difficult to break us down that day. I think everybody was putting their body on the line, I remember everyone was sliding, backs against the wall at times, but it’s going to be like that when you play against a top-class side like Barcelona.
“You need to be willing to push yourself to places that you’ve never went to before.”
