Alexia Putellas Could Return For Champions League Semifinals

The Women’s Champions League semifinal opponents for Barça Women will be Chelsea after they knocked out holders Olympique Lyon in a match with an amazing end.

Emma Hayes’ team took a valuable one-goal lead on aggregate back to Stamford Bridge, but a goal for the French side in both regular and extra time seemed to put them on course for the semifinal. However, Chelsea was awarded and scored a penalty during time added on after the extra 30 minutes were up, before going on to win the tie on penalties.

So, there will be a repeat of the memorable 2021 final in Gothenburg, the only time the two teams have faced each other when Barça ran out of 4-0 winners.

The first leg will be played in London during the weekend of 23 April, with the return leg at Spotify Camp Nou the following weekend.

The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner and FIFA’s best women’s player Alexia Putellas could return for the second leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinals against Chelsea on April 29th after suffering a torn ACL in July last year.

Putellas returned to training earlier this week and Barca is hopeful that their star player will be able to start training normally with her teammates shortly.

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The Chelsea side still contains some of the players that reached that final and have served them well in domestic competitions. Berger, Buchanan, Leupolz, James, Harder, Kerr… a star-filled roster that makes them a dangerous opponent.

This will be Barça’s fifth semifinal in a row, a notable achievement as they are the first team ever to do so. The first was in 2017 and so far they have won three and lost two.