Chelsea lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich in the first leg of the pair’s Women’s Champions League semi-final on Sunday, with Barcelona drawing 1-1 with Paris Saint-Germain in the other tie.
We are guaranteed to witness a first time winner of this year’s competition with Lyon – who have lifted the last five trophies – being dumped out by PSG in the quarter-finals.
Chelsea got off to a slow start in Bavaria with the hosts taking the lead through Sydney Lohmann inside 12 minutes. The German took advantage of an error by Blues goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger and headed home from close range.
Just over 10 minutes later the English side grabbed a potentially crucial away goal in bizarre fashion. Guro Reiten swung in a deep free kick with an attempted clearance from a Bayern defender deflecting off Melanie Leupolz and looping into the net.
After the break Hanna Glas cut inside and powered home from just inside the box to restore Bayern’s advantage. Chelsea went close to levelling things up near the end, only for Ji So-yun’s effort to bounce the wrong side of the line after cannoning off the underside of the bar.
The Blues’ away goal leaves things delicately poised heading into next Sunday’s second leg. The other semi-final is similarly tight with nothing separating Barcelona and PSG at Stade Georges Lefevre.
The visitors struck early through Jennifer Hermoso, who came back to haunt her former employers with a 12th minute strike. PSG then levelled things up through USWNT international Alana Cook who nodded home from a corner before the break.
Both teams had chances to win the game in the second half, though neither could convert. Worryingly for Barcelona, Hermoso was forced to depart after suffering an ankle injury that could rule her out of the second leg.