UEFA Women’s Champions League Final 2020-21 – Barça put four past Blues to secure title

FC Barcelona Femení secured the UEFA Women’s Champions League title in Gothenburg as they beat Chelsea Women 4-0 to become the first-ever Spanish side to ever claim the European crown.

Both teams came into the final on the back of strong domestic performances in their respective leagues and cup competitions, but any parity between the two evaporated 32 seconds after kick-off when an early Barça attack saw the ball hit Chelsea’s Melanie Leupolz and loop off her own keeper to give the Blaugranes the lead. Chelsea showed signs of threat soon after going down but didn’t manage to take advantage of any of the half-chances they managed to create. Barça, on the other hand, were very keen to assert onto their English opposition the same dominance with which they secured Primera Iberdrola with eight games to spare. Further goals from Alexia Putellas (penalty, 14’), Aitana Bonmatí (21’) and Caroline Graham Hansen (36’) made sure Chelsea never got any window of opportunity to mount a comeback. With 4-0 down after 36 minutes, the Blues were left to score at least five against a side who had conceded five and lost none in the entirety of their league season (thus far). Rather anti-climatically, but the match was all but over after the first half, with the second one all but perfunctory.

Although beaten by a big margin, Chelsea will take a lot of heart and valuable experience from this game. They are, after all, the first English finalists in the UWCL since Arsenal when they won it in 2007. Barça, on the other hand, made the final two years ago, when they were beaten by Lyon 4-1 in Kiev.

While the European journeys of both Barça and Chelsea are over, their seasons aren’t. Having already won the FA Women’s League Cup, the FA Women’s Community Shield, and the FA Women’s Super League, Chelsea will now set their eyes on the Women’s FA Cup and will want to win it to end their season on a relatively high note. They face Everton in a delayed fifth round proper fixture on May 20.

Barça, on the other hand, are eyeing a historic treble as they look to retain the Copa de la Reina. They face Madrid CFF in the semi-final on May 26. Also, despite already elected champions, they still have eight games left to play in Primera Iberdrola, with the league set to conclude on June 27.

With the UWCL victory of the Femení, FC Barcelona becomes the first-ever club to have won both the men’s and the women’s Champions League trophies.