Women's Champions League: Barcelona hammer Chelsea

Chelsea 0-4 Barcelona, Gamla Ullevi
(Leupolz og 1', Putellas 13 (pen), Bonmati 20', Graham Hansen 36)

The last time Barcelona reached the Women's Champions League final, an early goal from a German midfielder helped one team race in to an unassailable lead within half an hour.

But while Dzsenifer Marozsán's 2019 opener led Lyon to a 4-1 victory, Melanie Leupolz's freakish own goal after 33 seconds of Sunday's final was the beginning of a rapid end for Chelsea against the Catalans.

Straight from kickoff the irrepresible and brilliant Lieke Martens rattled a long range effort off Ann-Katrin Berger's bar. The rebound fell to Fran Kirby in the unfamiliar territory of her own box and she hacked it against the legs of Leupolz, only to see the ball balloon over Berger and in to the net.

Pressing matters

Much of Emma Hayes' preperation had been undone by a tricky trajectory but things would quickly get worse as Lluis Cortes' side hunted in packs to unsettle their opponents. Chelsea, and Pernille Harder, had chances to equalize but were on the canvas before they settled.

First Leupolz was penalised for catching Jennifer Hermoso with her trailing leg, allowing Alexia Putellas to score from the spot. Then Martens, Hermoso and, devastatingly, Putellas combined to play in Bonmati, who slipped it past Chelsea's German keeper.

Barca were 4-0 down by the half hour mark two years ago and they matched that scoreline after 36 minutes when more sensational work from Martens down the left allowed Caroline Graham Hansen to tap in to an open goal.

A new era?

The Spanish champions, who won each of their 26 games in the Primera Division, weathered a brief but fairly uneventful Chelsea storm soon after the break before calmly putting the game to bed.

More than revenge for 2019, this felt like a gauntlet thrown down, a signal of intent from a side who intend to dominate the European women's game in the way that Lyon have. This was some way to start.