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UWCL: Barcelona with one foot in the final

A 5-1 win in the first leg of the Women’s Champions League semi-final over Wolfsburg made Barcelona with one foot in the final. In front of the another historic crowd of 91,533
fans, Barcelona was much better team and left the German vice-champions no chance of success.

Women’s Champions League, Semi-final, Leg 1

Friday, 22nd of April

FC Barcelona – Vfl Wolfsburg 5-1 (4-0)
Scorers: 3′ Aitana Bonmati (B), 10′ Caroline Graham Hansen (B), 33′ Jennifer Hermoso (B), 38′ Alexia Putellas (B), 70′ Jill Roord (W), 85′ Alexia Putellas (B) pen
Yellow cards: 64′ Ewa Pajor (W), 83′ Dominique Janssen (W)

2nd leg

Saturday, 30th of April at 18.00 CET

Summary

On Camp Nou, Barcelona, who eliminated Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, started strong from the first second. In the 1st minute, Alexia tried from the edge of the goalkeeper area, but Almuth Schult was prepared. But not even two minutes later, the German goalkeeper was powerless when Aitana Bonmati was faster than indecisive Dominique Janssen and managed to get the opener. In the 6th minute, Blaugrana could double the lead when Patri Guijarro found Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic in the box, but Swiss international sent the ball wide with a poor shot. The hosts got their second goal in the 10th minute, when Caroline Graham Hansen found her way in the penalty area, dribbled past Joelle Wedemeyer and finished with a beautiful curved shot. Out of the blue, Wolfsburg, who secured last 4 spot with a win over Arsenal, got a chance to get one back, but Irene Paredes saved Svenja Huth’s shot on the line and the German attacker hit Sandra Panos from the bounce. Barcelona’s dominance continued with another goal in the 33rd minute. After a nice combination, Marta Torrejon made her way down the right side and found Jenni Hermoso with a selfless pass. The Barça’s 10 had no troubles scoring from vicinity. The tie was practically already decided a few minutes later when Guijarro found Alexia with a beautiful pass in the depth. The Ballon d’Or winner routinely scored past Schult to put herself on the scoreboard.

The hosts also kept pushing in the second half. Crnogorcevic scored the fifth one, but it was rules offside. Schult was the main reason Wolfsburg did not go down for even more. The German goalkeeper rejected Torrejon and Crnogorcevic, who found themselves alone in front of the goal. The guests managed to get a consolation goal in the 70th minute after VAR decided, the initially disallowed goal from Jill Roord, was just onside and stands. Blaugrana got their fifth in the 85th minute. Janssen brought down Putellas in the penalty area with a late tackle. The Spanish forward herself took the penalty, sent Schult the wrong way and completed her brace for the final 5-1

In another exhibition of the top women team at the moment in front of over 91,000 people in Camp Nou, Barcelona made already a huge step towards the final. Wolfsburg will need a miracle to overturn the deficit, but we have already seen bigger football upsets. Can the Wolves make one?

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