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How Chelsea tried - and failed - to beat a superior Barcelona once again

Sonia Bompastor's attempted tactical tweaks fall flat as Chelsea struggle across the pitch against an imperious Barcelona in the Champions League

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Ishan Shah and The Cutback
Apr 28, 2025
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New tactics but the same result for Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea, as Barcelona completed an 8-2 rout to reach their sixth consecutive Champions League final.

What was outlined as an opportunity to redeem themselves quickly turned into another embarrassing 4-1 defeat for Chelsea.

For the third consecutive year, Barcelona knocked the Blues out of the Champions League in the semi-finals, but this tie felt different. In the previous two semi-finals, Barcelona came out 2-1 winners on aggregate. This, however, was an 8-2 demolition of the five-time WSL champions.

With the tie pretty much over after the 4-1 first-leg loss, Sonia Bompastor wanted her players to leave the second leg with no regrets. While her tactical tweaks and gameplan caused the Spanish giants problems early on, the Blues were outclassed by a clinical Barcelona side.

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Ishan Shah
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