Can Chelsea hold on to win against Barcelona?
Chelsea go into the second-leg of their semi-final against Barcelona with a one-goal lead that no one expected them to have. Barcelona had not lost a home game in five years, and received wisdom going into the match was that Chelsea would have done well to still be in the tie by the end of the ninety minutes. Instead Erin Cuthbert’s 40th minute goal now gives the Blues a slender advantage.
The match itself was pretty even which probably should have been more anticipated given that Barcelona won 2-1 at this stage of the competition last year across two tight games. Over the past two seasons, Barcelona have recorded three of their four lowest expected goal totals in individual matches against Chelsea. Last weekend’s defensive performance was the best of the lot, with Chelsea only really allowing one good chance for Barcelona, which Alexia Putellas missed in the final moment of the match.
Chelsea will know then that they can defend against Barcelona but that is not the same as saying they should defend against them. In fact the most instructive game for Chelsea going into the second leg is probably not the games they played against Barcelona last year, but their quarter-final against Lyon.
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