Chelsea vs Barcelona LIVE: Women’s Champions League team news and line-ups ahead of semi-final Stamford Bridge

Barcelona beat Chelsea 1-0 in final yr’s semi-final first leg at Stamford Bridge, as Caroline Graham Hansen’s purpose gave the Spanish aspect the benefit.

Earlier than final week’s first leg, Graham Hansen had scored in each recreation she had performed towards Chelsea, however was stored quiet by Niamh Charles and an outstanding Chelsea show.

Barcelona and England midfielder Keira Walsh insisted the Champions League holders have full perception that they will got here from 1-0 down to succeed in the ultimate at Stamford Bridge.

She advised Uefa: “It is positively not past us. We had possibilities on the finish [of the first leg] and we will take a optimistic from that. Everyone fights for the badge; that is what we’ll do at Stamford Bridge. That is such a particular staff and I’ve full religion that we will do it.”

Emma Hayes warned that Barcelona “have one other degree in them” after Chelsea pulled off a surprising victory in final week’s first leg.

“It’s simply half-time. No person ought to get carried away with that and to be sincere, I’m disillusioned we didn’t get the second purpose,” she advised DAZN.

“It’s a tough place to return they usually carried out the sport plan I requested them to do – so from that perspective, I’m pleased.

“I feel I understand how to return away from house and get a end result. We have now under-performed towards Barcelona at house.

“Barcelona have one other degree in them and I feel that’s clear. Perhaps they don’t really feel they have been at their greatest at the moment and we’ve got to anticipate that.”

Chelsea must do extra than simply defend as Barcelona look to maintain their Champions League defence alive. Barcelona have vowed to deliver “one other degree” into the second leg and as they search the comeback, or the “remontada”.

It will be a rare effort from Chelsea to shut-out the star-studded solid of Bonmati, Caroline Graham Hansen, Fridolina Rolfo, Salma Paralluelo and Alexia Putellas for a second recreation in a row. “Barcelona are gonna come for us, world class gamers received’t settle for defeat,” Hayes warned final week, moments after full-time.

Chelsea have been getting ready for this and, for them, it’s private too. That ultimate in Gothenburg, three years in the past, denied Chelsea and Hayes a primary Champions League, destroyed by Barcelona in a first-half onslaught.

That is the closest they’ve been to the Champions League ultimate since and, finally, a first-ever victory over Barcelona would rely for nothing in the event that they don’t full the job and attain the ultimate as effectively. The quadruple is lengthy gone however the Champions League dream continues to be alive. For Chelsea and Hayes, this may be their best victory of all.

Chelsea have been good final week, changing into the primary staff to beat Barcelona away from house in 5 years. A defensive masterclass stifled the holders, limiting the Spanish aspect to few possibilities, whereas an aggressive and intense method disrupted the European champions and their midfield passing. Barcelona and their superstars have been evidently rattled, with the Ballon d’Or holder Aitana Bonmati accusing Chelsea of “taking part in soiled” and inflicting “interruptions” within the recreation. Bonmati claimed Barcelona had warned the referee that Chelsea would look to sluggish play down, and but they succeeded.

Such a response would have been music to Chelsea’s ears, proof past the monumental scoreline that their method had been a profitable one. Hayes was fast to level out that the tie was solely at half-time and insisted Chelsea may have had extra. There was satisfaction in celebrating Chelsea’s win at Barcelona, however Hayes was quite extra regretful that Mayra Ramirez had not doubled Chelsea’s lead on the counter-attack after the hosts pushed additional numbers ahead seeking an equaliser.

And so to the arrival of Barcelona for the second time in as many seasons. Chelsea are ready for a response after Barcelona have been surprised, humbled and suffered their first defeat of the season within the first leg final week. Hayes’s aspect executed their defensive gameplan to perfection and Erin Cuthbert’s purpose secured a well-known win on the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium.

There’s a rating to settle: Barcelona have vowed to lift their recreation and there’s revenge to assert, but the European champions might be up towards greater than an organised defence and a disciplined unit, given the emotion of Hayes’s ultimate weeks in cost.

The prospect to lastly win the Champions League heightens the narrative, in a conflict that ought to have rather more rigidity and edginess than final season’s semi-final first leg at Stamford Bridge. Then, the event was not a contest and Chelsea’s passiveness as a lot as Barcelona’s dominance meant the fixture struggled to reside as much as its billing.

Chelsea can declare crowning Ladies’s Champions League victory in the home that Emma Hayes constructed

It was all within the plan, it appeared. As Chelsea took to Stamford Bridge for the primary time below Emma Hayes, the membership’s then-chairman Bruce Buck declared that, in a single sense, the “mission has been completed”. There have been below 4,000 in attendance as Chelsea have been crushed 3-0 by Wolfsburg, however the the historic event of Chelsea’s girls’s staff taking part in at Stamford Bridge was the encapsulation of Hayes’s imaginative and prescient. “Emma defined what she wished to construct right here,” Buck wrote within the match programme seven years in the past. “However I do know Emma won’t need the journey to finish right here.” Nor did it.

However now there’s an finish, of types, as Chelsea return to the home that Hayes constructed for the second leg of their Ladies’s Champions League semi-final towards Barcelona. Hayes’s final match at Stamford Bridge couldn’t have been scripted higher: with a slender 1-0 result in shield towards the most effective staff on the planet, the chance to knock out the holders and attain the Bilbao ultimate, and the largest ever attendance for a girls’s recreation at Stamford Bridge. The pursuit of a primary Champions League title and the dream finish to Hayes’s ultimate season at Chelsea has led to the prospect of a primary sell-out within the membership’s historical past.

Because the ball fell to Alexia Putellas, 4 yards in and out the ninth minute of extra time on the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium, there was already sufficient proof to indicate that this was a day for the sudden. In some other recreation, Putellas would have scored and Barcelona would have discovered a means by means of – as an alternative, the two-time Ballon d’Or winner skewed her shot and the Ladies’s Champions League holders suffered their first house defeat in 5 years. Much more remarkably, as Putellas sliced extensive, a staff who had scored 164 objectives in all competitions this season have been but to land a shot on track.

Nor would they. By some means, Chelsea and Emma Hayes produced the unthinkable. The English champions regarded to outlive and keep within the tie, however Erin Cuthbert’s purpose and a first-ever victory towards the all-conquering Barcelona ensures Chelsea will take a 1-0 lead again to Stamford Bridge for subsequent week’s semi-final second leg. Keep away from defeat there, and Hayes will finish her 12-year Chelsea reign in Bilbao and with a ultimate shot on the solely trophy that has eluded her.

Chelsea captain Millie Vivid is again within the squad after getting back from a knee damage, however it might be a shock to see her begin. Chelsea are with out long-term absentees Sam Kerr and Mia Fishel, however Maren Mjelde and Nathalie Bjon are more likely to be concerned.

Barcelona are with out Mapi Leon whereas Lucy Bronze and Alexia Putellas began the primary leg on the bench however may come into the line-up.

Chelsea: Hampton; Lawrence, Carter, Buchanan, Charles; Cuthbert, Leupolz; Rytting Kaneryd, Nusken, James; Ramirez

Barcelona: Cata Coll; Bronze, Paredes, Engen, Rolfo; Bonmati, Walsh, Patri; Graham Hansen, Paralluelo, Caldentey

When is Chelsea vs Barcelona?

The match will kick off at 5:30pm BST on Saturday 27 April at Stamford Bridge, London.