Emma Hayes will end her Chelsea reign without the Champions League title that she and her team so craved after Barcelona won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to progress to this year's final. Goals from Aitana Bonmati and Fridolina Rolfo helped the Catalans overturn a 1-0 deficit from last week's first leg, though the main talking point at full-time was the officiating.
Bonmati levelled the tie on aggregate with 25 minutes on the clock thanks to some magical footwork creating the space for a shot that deflected off Kadeisha Buchanan, leaving Hannah Hampton with no chance. But while Barca enjoyed a good spell off the back of that goal, Chelsea had their chances, Catarina Macario testing Cata Coll with a nice volley after Melanie Leupolz hit the bar with a glorious opportunity, albeit one that VAR would've come back to and disallowed as Lauren James was offside in the build-up.
It was a well-contested game all set-up for a wonderful second half that would decide the first of this year's finalists, and then the controversy began. Buchanan was booked for a clear foul on Salma Paralluelo which did not at all divide opinion - but her second yellow just four minutes later did. A tackle on Patri Guijarro was deemed a foul and, crucially, worth another card. The Canadian was in disbelief.
Barca struggled to create anything clear-cut despite the the player advantage, until Bonmati burst into the box and went down under contact from Ashley Lawrence. The defender was adamant it wasn't a foul, alas it stood after a VAR check and Rolfo was on hand to convert and put the visitors ahead.
Hayes went for it from there, throwing on forwards in search of a goal to take the game to extra-time, but it didn't come. There will be no fairy tale for Chelsea's iconic coach in the Champions League and Barca will instead head to Bilbao next month hoping to defend their European title, with Lyon or Paris Saint-Germain to be the opponent.
GOAL rates Chelsea's players from Stamford Bridge...
