Women’s Champions League LIVE stream: Score and updates from Chelsea vs Barcelona semi-final

13 mins: Chance! Lucy Bronze’s quality is well known but that doesn’t make it any easier to defend against her. She drives down the line, links up with Graham Hansen for a one two then flicks the ball back to the winger who darts into the box.

Graham Hansen shoots but her effort is timid and Berger has no issues scooping up the ball at the near post.

10 mins: Graham Hansen gets the ball once again over on the right wing. She looks confident and tries to take on Niamh Charles who holds her ground and recovers possession.

Charles has been given the nod ahead of Lauren James today, probably due to her commitment to get back and help out the defence.

7 mins: Barcelona also scored early in the 2021 WCL final against Chelsea. On that occasion the Blues shipped four goals before half-time and they can’t afford to do so again today.

The Blues have responded well though. A couple of attacks get them into the box but they aren’t clinical with the final pass and the visitors clear their lines.

4 mins: That’s incredible! Caroline Graham Hansen receives the ball for Barcelona over on the right wing. She dribbles inside and runs across the edge of the penalty area.

Chelsea don’t engage her leaving the forward with time to shoot. She does and blasts a wonderful strike to the far corner leaving Ann-Katrin Berger no chance to keep it out.

3 mins: Barcelona commit a few players forward but Carter does well to take the ball off Aitana Bonmati. The Chelsea left-back releases a long ball up the pitch and almost sends Sam Kerr in behind.

Mapi Leon gets across to clear her lines and beats Kerr to the loose ball.

Chelsea get the ball rolling for this semi-final clash. They lose possession early and Barcelona attempt to sweep down the left wing. Fridolina Rolfo whips a cross into the far side of the penalty area but Jess Carter is on hand to nod the ball away.

Chelsea and Barcelona walk out onto the pitch at Stamford Bridge ahead of this crucial Women’s Champions League tie. Can the Blues defeat the Spanish champions this afternoon?

Barcelona, whose Women’s Champions League semi-final record is won three, lost two have progressed in three of their last four ties at this stage.

Their only failure in that time coming against Wolfsburg in 2019/20.

Two nights, two teams, and a momentous 48 hours for English clubs in the Women’s Champions League. Yet when Emma Hayes, drained after Chelsea’s head-spinning escape against Lyon, soaked in the buzz that lingered in the air at Stamford Bridge she recognised the importance of not just one victory, but two. “How brilliant was that, what a performance from them,” she said, but Hayes spoke of Arsenal’s display in their stunning win over Bayern Munich, not of Chelsea’s dethroning of Lyon to join the Gunners in the semi-finals.

Both Chelsea and Arsenal had taken huge steps forward in the competition, Arsenal in reaching their first semi-final since 2013, Chelsea in knocking out the eight-time winners after a night of the highest drama. Chelsea played their first knockout match in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge and delivered a comeback to stand among any in the club’s European history, on the night after Arsenal set new records and made the Emirates feel like a home. Jonas Eidevall said history was being written in front of their eyes, and there will now be bigger nights to come.

“I’m so happy for English football,” Hayes said, after a week that can accelerate interest in the club game – just as the Lionesses started to crackle during their run to the Euros final, before peaking with victory at Wembley. Should either Chelsea or Arsenal go all the way and end English’s football’s 13-year wait for a Women’s Champions League winner then there is potential for it to be a similar seismic moment. Leah Williamson is already attune to it, with the suggestion that Arsenal could one day make the Emirates their permanent home now said to be a realistic vision.

Chelsea reached this stage of the competition three times in four seasons between 2018 and 2021.

They went out 5-1 on aggregate to Wolfsburg in April 2018 and the following year lost 3-2 to Lyon, who would go on to defeat Barcelona in the Budapest final in May 2019.