Semi-finals tie by tie: Barcelona vs Chelsea, Lyon vs Paris Saint-Germain | UEFA Women’s Champions League

The UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final ties are set. We look at the key storylines as four teams aim for the final in Bilbao.

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Can Chelsea beak the Barcelona hoodoo?

Wolfsburg were Chelsea’s nemesis in the Blues’ early European campaigns, knocking them out in their first three seasons (including in the 2017/18 semi-finals). Eventually, in the 2020/21 last eight, Chelsea defeated Wolfsburg 5-1 on aggregate and made the final, only to be blown away 4-0 by Barcelona in Gothenburg.

Chelsea were one step away from a second final last season, but Barcelona were in the way, and Caroline Graham Hansen’s superb goal early in the Stamford Bridge first leg gave them an advantage they never surrendered, especially after the Norwegian attacker scored again at Camp Nou . So, as Chelsea chase a first European title in Emma Hayes’s last season at the helm, they now take on the only one of their 19 different Women’s Champions League opponents they have never defeated.

It is Barcelona’s turn to be at home first this year as they continue their bid to join Umeå, Lyon and Wolfsburg as clubs who have successfully defended the UEFA women’s club title (they have already equaled OL’s record of reaching six semi-finals in a row ). Chelsea, though, have been fearless away from home in the competition over the last couple of seasons and, while officially playing it down, seem on something of a mission to ensure Hayes’s long reign ends with the one missing trophy.

Familiar rivals make history

Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain meet for the fourth time in a Champions League semi-finals, and when they kick off the first leg it will be the 11th game between the two in Europe, becoming the most played match in UEFA women’s competition history.

The three previous Champions League semi-finals have all gone Lyon’s way (in each case followed by them lifting the trophy). OL have generally had the upper hand on the domestic stage too, with four wins in a row before their 1-1 league draw at OL Stadium in February, the capital side denied by a 90th-minute own goal.

The last time Paris won away to Lyon was the 2-1 comeback win in the second leg of their 2020/21 quarter-final, taking them through on away goals (something that cannot happen this time). The fact that Paris’s last win over 90 minutes at Lyon before that was in 2014, also in the Champions League, adds emphasis to OL’s dominance.

As if that wasn’t enough, this season’s Women’s Champions League top scorer is Lyon’s seven-goal Kadidiatou Diani, a summer transfer from Paris, where she was similarly prolific. She is far from the only former Paris player in the Lyon squad, although Sakina Karchaoui moved the other way in 2021. Judging by these sides’ last few European encounters, their latest tussle should be tense indeed.