BEVERLY HILLS, May 02, (THEWILL) – The female teams of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain faced off for a UEFA Women’s Champions League final place on Sunday with little to tell between the teams after their 1-1 first-leg draw. But, a first half brace from inspired Dutch forward Lieke Martens gave the hosts, Barcelona Femini, the upper hand and ensured Asisat Oshoala’s side advanced to the final.
The crunch second leg UWCL encounter began with great intensity and desire from the semi-finalists. Although PSG had the first glimpse of goal as early as two minutes, they failed to capitalise on the opportunity and Barca made them pay by opening the scoring six minutes later, with a brilliant solo effort by Martens.
The goal aside, PSG continued to demonstrate to their hosts why they made it so far in Europe with several intelligent displays. It took amazing defending to keep Barca in the lead like when a Däbritz through-ball attempted to split the host’s backline, but the defense stood stoutly against the incursions.
On the other, the reliable French defense uncharacteristically switched off again and allowed Martens to steal in at the far post to get on the end of Caroline Hansen’s cross to make it 2-0, one minute after the half hour mark.
The visitors kept up the pressure while the hosts soaked it up, confident in their two-goal lead. But, it took only four minutes for PSG to half the deficit. Marie-Antoinette Kakoto gave Barca something to worry about with her goal that, at 2-1, was enough to push the hosts into a tight corner because if PSG scored again and the game ended in another draw, the French side qualified ahead of Barca on the away-goal rule.
The semi-final seemed to work in favour of the Parisiens at it remained a very open tie with chances for both sides as the second half wore on. However, Martens spurned the golden opportunity of a semi-final hattrick when Barca were awarded a penalty for a goalkeeper Christiane Endler’s foul on Alexia Putellas in the box. Endler atoned for the charge and saved the penalty.
Barca’s leading goalscorer this season, Jenni Hermoso, with 21 goals so far, missed a 22nd in the 69th minute and a header from Marta Torrejón hit the crossbar 11 minutes from time as Barca went in search of one more. It was just about this time that Oshoala was introduced into the game as a substitute, in place of Aitana Bonmati, to try for another goal.
They could have conceded in the process but Barca keeper Sandra Panos repelled Sandy Baltimore and Katoto again to keep the hosts very much in contention. In the 85th minute, Oshoala, who had been on the pitch for just six minutes was shown a yellow card for a bookable offence on the opponent.
By the final whistle, Barça Femini had valiantly secured a 2-1 second leg victory to take the semi-final fixtures by a 3-2 aggregate and punch their ticket for the final of the year’s UWCL.
In the final, they will contend against either Chelsea or Bayern Munich, who have one more leg after Bayern won the first at home 2-1, for a podium finish as female European champions 16 May in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
