Barcelona v Chelsea: Women’s Champions League semi-final, first leg – live

The 2023 and 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, Aitana Bonmatí, says Barcelona have a “good rivalry, no bad things” had high praise for Chelsea ahead of the tie.

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.

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.

Since Bompastor’s arrival, when few imagined anybody could match the dominance Hayes oversaw, Chelsea have lost only once, and some might say even that does not count, given it was in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City which they fought back to win on aggregate.

The trophy the club want above all else, though, is the continent’s top prize. Standing between them and what would be only a second appearance in the final by a British club since 2007 are an in-form Barcelona, who have scored 11 goals in their past two matches and were 10-2 aggregate winners over Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals.