Barça will play its sixth consecutive Champions final, where it will face Lyon led by Jonatan Giráldez, after resolving the tie against Bayern with a hard-fought match at Camp Nou. The culé team resolved it early, but life got complicated against a great Bayern with a thrilling finish that pushed the blaugrana to the limit, showing their most human side.
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It was a vibrant match, worthy of what is expected from a Champions semifinal. One of those that the blaugrana like because it pushes them out of their comfort zone and makes them give their all. An electric duel in which they had to prove they deserve the ticket to Oslo by showing their most focused version. A Barça much more human than that blaugrana giant, a collector of thrashings, to which we are accustomed.
Barça knew how to suffer against a great Bayern
The stands enjoyed it like a child on Christmas morning. Camp Nou was a pressure cooker that vibrated from the opening whistle, booing the rival, pushing their own on every corner…
Barça took control of the match very quickly and accumulated chances against a very well-positioned Bayern that, just like in the first leg, closed the interior spaces to the blaugrana very well, but this time Pere Romeu’s team found solutions with lateral crosses that caused a lot of damage to the German team. That’s how the first goal of the afternoon came, with a precise pass from Caroline Graham Hansen to Salma Paralluelo, who only had to push it into the net. Only 13 minutes had passed and the blaugrana were already ahead in the tie, unleashing madness in the stands. Flags waved under the leaden sky of a rainy afternoon celebrating that Barça was one step closer to Oslo.
But epic victories have to be earned and Bayern once again proved to be a rival to be reckoned with. The joy in the stands lasted only four minutes, the time it took Dallmann to equalize the tie again after a series of fatal errors. Irene Paredes lost the ball, Harder quickly countered and passed it to her teammate, who beat an unmoved Cata Coll, who didn’t even move as the ball slipped into her goal.
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A hard blow that the blaugrana absorbed well. They didn’t let it affect them and saw their persistence rewarded when only five minutes later the usual one appeared, Alexia Putellas, to keep writing the pages of her romance with Camp Nou. The blaugrana captain collected a loose ball after Salma Paralluelo’s shot and didn’t miss to put Barça ahead again. The stands exploded seeing how the ‘queen’ surrendered to the fans, kissing the badge while running and dropping to her knees before the stands before finishing her celebration with her now legendary bow to the fans.
Barça came out of the locker rooms with an extra gear and determined to finish the job. And boy, did they do it. Pajor caught a ball crossed by Paralluelo to put the third and equal Alessia Russo as the top scorers of the Champions, with 9 goals each. And with no time to digest it, Alexia made the stands erupt again by scoring her personal double to make it 4-1, paving the way to the Champions final.
The crowd was having fun and a luxury guest joined the party when Aitana Bonmatí made her entrance 154 days after breaking her fibula. But in the middle of the party, the one from Sant Pere de Ribes lost the ball in midfield and Bayern again proved lethal on the counterattack. Harder ran to beat Cata Coll with too much ease and cut the distance with twenty minutes left. A goal that left Barça a bit stunned and Bayern took advantage to besiege the culé goal. Two shots hit the woodwork, a goal disallowed in the 90th, and the held breath of the fans, nervously watching the minutes run on the scoreboard. An unusual tense ending for a team used to thrashing opponents, but it adds epicness to the qualification for Barça’s sixth continental final, a team that wants to keep making history.
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