How Barcelona & Chelsea reached the Women’s Champions League final
By Tom Gott
For the first time since 2015, someone other than Lyon will lift the Women's Champions League trophy.
The question is, will it be Barcelona or Chelsea?
Emma Hayes' Blues will meet Lluis Cortes' Blaugrana on Sunday at the Gamla Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden, with both hoping to get their hands on the trophy for the first time in their history.
Let's take a look at how each side got here.
BARCELONA
Barcelona 8-2 PSV Eindhoven
Cortes' side made light work of PSV in the round of 32, storming to 4-1 victories in both legs en route to sealing an 8-2 win on aggregate.
A glorious volley from Lieke Martens was the undisputed highlight of the first leg, before Barcelona returned to Spain and strolled into the last 16 courtesy of doubles from both Martens and the excellent Caroline Graham Hansen.
Barcelona 9-0 Fortuna Hjørring
Danish side Fortuna Hjørring were no match for the Spanish champions, succumbing to a 4-0 loss in the first leg before going one worse in the return.
Barcelona could have had nine or ten in the first leg, had it not been for some magical saves from Line Johansen, so they instead had to settle for a composed hat-trick from Jenni Hermoso and a late strike from Alexia Putellas.
A 5-0 win in the second leg, courtesy of goals from Aitana Bonmatí, Mariona Caldentey, Asisat Oshoala and Marta Torrejón led Barcelona to the quarter-finals for the sixth consecutive season.
Barcelona 4-2 Manchester City
Barcelona's path to the semi-final looked pretty clear after the first leg against Manchester City. They stormed to a surprisingly routine 3-0 win thanks to goals from Oshoala, Caldentey and Hermoso, but City came out firing in the second leg.
Janine Beckie poked City ahead early on, before Lucy Bronze offered up one of the greatest blocks you're ever likely to see, but their resistance was finally broken by Osoala again after the break as Barcelona put an end to any talk of a comeback.
City did run out winners on the day after Sam Mewis fired home from the penalty spot, but that first-leg result was enough to steer Barcelona through on aggregate.
Barcelona 3-2 Paris Saint-Germain
Having steamrolled every first leg up to this point, Barcelona were left frustrated as they were held to a 1-1 draw with PSG in a game which also saw competition top scorer Hermoso forced off with an ankle injury.
With Hermoso out for the second leg, Barcelona knew they needed something special, and they got that early on as Martens struck twice inside 31 minutes to give Cortes' side an imposing lead.
PSG fired back in the 34th minute through Marie-Antoinette Katoto, setting up a nervous hour which Barcelona managed to navigate with real class.
CHELSEA
Chelsea 8-0 Benfica
Fran Kirby became Chelsea's record goalscorer in the 5-0 victory over Benfica in the round-of-32 first leg, firing her 68th and 69th goals for the club in a routine win which also saw Millie Bright, Pernille Harder and Beth England get on the score sheet.
A 3-0 win followed in the second leg, with Sam Kerr enjoying a goalscoring European debut with the Blues.
Chelsea 3-1 Atletico Madrid
Chelsea picked up a 2-0 win over Atletico in the first leg, but things were by no means as simple as the scoreline would suggest.
Sophie Ingle was given her marching orders after just 12 minutes, conceding an early penalty which was kept out by goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who saved the day with yet another penalty save late in the tie.
Maren Mjelde, who scored from 12 yards in the first leg, did the same in the return fixture to put Chelsea ahead, after which Atletico missed their third spot kick of the tie when Toni Duggan sent her effort crashing against the bar.
Chelsea 5-1 Wolfsburg
Harder came back to haunt her former employers as she combined with Kerr to steer Chelsea to a 2-1 win over Wolfsburg which, again, was much tougher than it could have been. The German side were overwhelmingly dominant and could have easily had four or five, but Chelsea held on and took a lead into the second leg.
Conscious of the need to turn it up for the return fixture, Hayes masterminded an excellent performance from the Blues. Harder, Kerr and Kirby all found the back of the net in a brilliant showing which saw Chelsea avenge eliminations at the hands of Wolfsburg in three straight seasons.
Chelsea 5-3 Bayern Munich
Having looked a little wobbly against Wolfsburg, Chelsea's fun looked to be over when they fell to a 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the semi-final first leg, but Melanie Leupolz's away goal gave them hope.
In another of those situations which required some extra class, Chelsea brought exactly that for the second leg. Kirby's early strike was cancelled out by a screamer from Sarah Zadrazil, but Ji So-yun's half-volley had Chelsea ahead at the break and level on aggregate.
With extra-time looming, Harder popped up with an 84th-minute header to put Chelsea ahead, and the Blues were made to defend heroically as they fought off a Bayern onslaught. The Germans threw everything at Chelsea, who made it 4-1 in the 95th minute when Kirby fired home on the counter to send Hayes' side through to their first final.