Women’s Champions League and WSL: talking points from the weekend action

Chelsea may have lost 1-0 in the first leg of the Women’s Champions League semi-final against Barcelona but afterwards they were relatively buoyant. Playing against the possession-heavy and quick-moving Catalans is one of the trickiest tests in football. “You have to be in the tie. We’re in the tie,” said the Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes. She is right but Barcelona walked away the more content side. Yes, they did not capitalise on their dominance to a greater extent, but their play (and injuries to Millie Bright and Kadeisha Buchanan) forced Chelsea to change shape, to a back five. As the Barcelona midfielder Keira Walsh put it: “We always score a lot of goals at Camp Nou.” Chelsea have a near-impossible task in Spain but shaking players free of Barcelona’s press long enough for them to release Sam Kerr will be key to any hopes of a colossal upset. SW

The crumpled bodies of the Wolfsburg players and noise from the raucous pocket of Arsenal fans spoke to the momentum shift in the second Champions League semi-final. Arsenal’s comeback from two goals down to take a 2-2 draw to the Emirates was truly impressive in the context of their injury crisis and depleted bench. The mental strength it takes to comeback after conceding to big sides is somewhat new to Arsenal but the manager, Jonas Eidevall, said: “Either you are always just connected to the result or you see a challenge as an opportunity to learn and to grow. And if you look at it that way and stay process oriented and always try to find the details, it is all down to the players and their mentality that they keep finding that way.” The tie may be level but Arsenal have belief and a huge home crowd awaits in the return fixture. SW

Manchester City gave a loud and clear