UWCL: Barcelona vs Chelsea Preview

For the third consecutive year, Chelsea and Barcelona will face each other in the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League.

RECENT PERFORMANCES:

In their six most recent performances, Barcelona have won five games and lost one. Their loss was historic, it was the first time Barcelona have ever lost to Real Madrid in the women’s game and the scoreline finished 1-3. Their most recent win was a big 5-1 victory at home to Sevilla, with Pajor, Vicky, Cano and Aitana all getting on the scoresheet. To go through to the semi finals of the Champions League, they played Wolfsburg, winning 10-2 on aggregate.

In their six most recent performances, Chelsea have won four games, lost one and drawn one. Their loss was the first game, across all competitions this season, that they’d failed to pick up points, it came against Manchester City in their second of four consecutive games playing each other. Their most recent win came against Liverpool in the WSL, Beever-Jones scoring the winning goal in the 94^th minute. To progress through to the semi finals of the Champions League, they played Manchester City, winning 3-2 on aggregate, all three of their goals coming from the second leg.

STAND OUT PLAYERS:

One to watch for Barcelona will be Ewa Pajor. Her career so far has consisted of many accolades but she is yet to win the Champions League, could this be the season she succeeds? The striker moved to Barcelona at the beginning of this season from Wolfsburg, and has already scored 33 goals in 36 appearances. Her first goals for the club were in December 2024 where she scored a brace against Hammarby in the group stage of the Champions League. During her time at Wolfsburg, she made 196 appearances scoring 135 goals, where she also won the UEFA Women’s Champions League top scorer in 2022/23. For Poland, she was part of the U-17 European Championship winning squad and won the Golden Player award for the U-17 Youth Levels. She made her debut for the senior team in 2013, as part of the Balaton Cup. In September 2022, she scored three goals against Kosovo, making her the most effective scorer in the history of Polish football, overtaking Marta Otrebska.

Youngster Wieke Kaptein, for Chelsea, will also be one to watch. Kaptein moved to Chelsea from FC Twente in 2023 but went straight back to FC Twente on loan, before returning back to Chelsea ahead of the 24/25 season.  The midfielder scored eight goals in 89 appearances for FC Twente, and so far in her Chelsea career, has scored three goals in 27 appearances. She was part of Chelsea’s match winning squad for the FA Women’s League Cup in the 24/25 season. Kaptein has represented the Netherlands through the age groups. She joined up with the U-17 squad for the first and second qualifying rounds of the 2022 European Championships, but was not part of the squad for the finals due to being needed by her club for the end of the season. In April 2023, she made her senior debut when she came on as a substitute in a friendly match against Poland, she then went on to be named in the 2023 World Cup squad, becoming the youngest ever debutant for the Netherlands.

TEAM NEWS AND PREDICTED LINEUP:

Sonia Bompastor confirmed Guro Reiten, Naomi Girma and Maelys Mpome are all available for the match. Zecira Musovic was already a known absentee due to her pregnancy but also confirmed this week, Lauren James will be absent due to a hamstring injury. Both, however, did travel with the squad over to Barcelona.

Irene Paredes and Ona Batlle, for Barcelona, are also both match fit once again, they returned to the squad last weekend to play Seville. Kika Nazareth is still absent following her ankle injury back in the February international Break.

BARCELONA: Cata Coll, Engen, Mapi Leon, Brugts, Patri, Aitana, Alexia, Jana, Graham Hansen, Pajor, Paralluelo

CHELSEA: Hampton, Bright, Bronze, Bjorn, Baltimore, Walsh, Cuthbert, Rytting-Kaneryd, Kaptein, Beever-Jones, Ramirez

If you’re watching from the UK, the game will be streamed on DAZN or TNT Sports, kick off is at 5pm BST.