Aitana Bonmatí says Barcelona have a “good rivalry, no bad things” with Chelsea as the Spanish holders prepare to meet the English club in their Women’s Champions League semi-final for the third consecutive season.
The 2023 and 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, whose team are chasing a fourth European title in five seasons, had high praise for Chelsea, despite the Women’s Super League club having never knocked Barcelona out of the competition.
“It’s a big rivalry between us, because over the last four or five years we [have been] playing a lot of games, but it’s a good rivalry, no bad things,” said Bonmatí, before Sunday’s first leg at Estadi Johan Cruyff. “In these games [against Chelsea] I always say that we can enjoy the football because we have in front of us a good opponent that makes us be better and better and better. This is the moment of the season we all enjoy – big games. It’s these games that make us great and that show us the level where we want to get to.”
The technically gifted midfielder, whoscored at Stamford Bridge a year agowhen Barcelona overturned a first-leg deficit to reach their fourth final in a row, pointed to Chelsea’s recruitment directly from Barcelona of the England duo Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh as having improved the English team. “They have Keira and Lucy, so they’re a better team these days. We miss them, because they helped us a lot.”
Lauren James is set to miss the game for Chelsea because of a hamstring injury sustained during the April international break while helping theLionesses beat Belgium 5-0at Ashton Gate. For Barcelona, Caroline Graham Hansen is a doubt after missing Saturday’s training session with illness.
Graham Hansen scored in each leg of the 2023 semi-final meetings between the sides as well as in the 2021 final when Barcelona emphatically saw off Chelsea witha 4-0 win in Gothenburg. Barcelona’s coach, Pere Romeu, said: “She had a rough night. We decided it was best for her to stay home and rest, but the match is in the evening, and we hope she’ll be fine.”
Romeu, who is in his first season in charge after replacing Jonatan Giráldez last June, also praised Sonia Bompastor’s side, adding: “That we’ve never been knocked out by Chelsea is in the past and doesn’t affect tomorrow’s game. It will be a long tie. It will be a closely contested tie. We have analysed the opponent a lot and have trained in a specific way to exploit our strengths and attack their weaknesses.”
Barcelona have won four games in a row in all competitions since their first defeat in a women’sClásicoagainst Real Madrid in March, and Romeu’s side were in ominously strong form when they dismantled Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals with a relentless 10-2 aggregate win. They hold a seven-point lead over Real at the top of the Spanish top flight, having lost only two league fixtures this season while scoring 107 goals in their 26 league matches so far.
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Chelsea, however, remain unbeaten in domestic action this season and have still lost only one fixture in Bompastor’s first campaign as manager, with that sole defeat coming inthe first legof their ultimately victorious quarter-final against Manchester City.
Chelsea are still in contention for a quadruple of major honours this term, having already wrapped up the League Cup. They are through to May’s Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley against Manchester United and are three points clear at the top of the WSL, with a game in hand on second-placed Arsenal. A potential Champions League final would take place on 24 May, six days after the Blues take on United at Wembley.