‘Different to other clubs’: how Barcelona Women left rivals behind

For a little while it looked as if the impossible might happen. It was half-time in the Champions League quarter-final at Valdebebas and Barcelona were losing. Not just the first leg, but for the first time: defeat would be their first against Real Madrid, the team built to be their rivals, and the first against anyone all season. It was March and they hadn’t even drawn yet – played 34, won 34 – but Olga Carmona’s early goal had them trailing.

Struggling too. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, Madrid more dynamic and deserving of the lead. “We weren’t happy,” the forward Caroline Graham Hansen says, “so we changed things.” Fourty-five minutes later, two from Alexia Putellas and one from Clàudia Pina completed a comeback. Barcelona had won but that wasn’t the news; the news was that they nearly hadn’t. “It was good for us to get that game,” Hansen adds. “Hopefully we learned a lesson.”

This was a new experience certainly and Wednesday will be too. The second leg is at the 99,354-seat Camp Nou. Tickets sold out in four days. They come to see perhaps the best team in the world. Barcelona are the European champions, taking Chelsea apart and winning 4-0 in the final to complete a treble last season. A fortnight ago, they won the league with six games left, their third consecutive title secured by a 5-0 victory over Madrid. They had won every game, and haven’t stopped since. Played 25, won 25. Scored 138, conceded seven.

Sign up for our new women’s football newsletter

In Europe, before going to Valdebebas, their results read: a 2-0, a 4-1, two 4-0s and two 5-0s. Putellas is the Ballon d’Or winner, plastered across billboards in the city. Four of her teammates were nominated. The challenge now is to keep this going.

On