Can Chelsea end their Barcelona hoodoo? League phase clash can give Blues a huge boost in pursuit of Women’s Champions League glory

On the face of it, the head-to-head between these two is insanely one-sided given how good this Chelsea team has been in the last five years especially. In seven meetings, Barcelona have emerged with five wins, one draw and one defeat, scoring 16 goals to the Blues’ four. Sometimes, those sorts of numbers don’t tell the full story and you have to look beyond them to find out more. Delve deeper, though, and it reflects even more positively on Barca.

In the last two seasons, when they’ve met in the semi-finals, Chelsea have had the perceived advantage of hosting the second leg of those ties. In the 2023-24 campaign, the Blues managed to emerge victorious in Catalunya, too, with a historic 1-0 scoreline giving them their first, and thus far only, win in this fixture. Yet, that never seems to bother Barca. Every time, they rise to the occasion and get the result they need, winning on all three of their visits to Stamford Bridge.

That they inflicted a whopping 8-2 aggregate defeat on the English champions last season felt particularly damning too, given this Chelsea team did not lose a domestic fixture all year and had spent the summer recruiting those with the knowledge of how to get over the line in the Champions League, most notably in head coach Sonia Bompastor, who guided Lyon to victory over Barca in the 2021-22 final.