3 positives as Chelsea go out of UWCL in spirited draw at Barcelona

1. This team showed incredible character right to the end

From the beginning, the gameplan that the coaching staff has constructed was clear. Keep Barcelona off the scoresheet for as long as possible, and then hit them with everything offensively in an attempt to extend the game past the 90th minute. This team knows how to weather the storm, and in the first half, they did an extraordinary job of that. The world’s most talented attack did not force Ann-Katrin Berger into a single save in the first 45 minutes.

None of the outside noise bothered them. Everyone in white and powder blue stuck to the plan that Hayes had concocted. When Graham Hanson slid her right-footed shot between the legs of Berger, it was quite clear the club’s spirit would drain. Similar to the quarterfinal against the defending European champions, the Blues kept their heads up.

Magdalena Eriksson, with the ball in her hands huddled everyone up right after the goal from the home side. Eriksson’s words, whatever they may have been, motivated her team keep fighting. Four minutes later, the match was tied. The hustle by Erin Cuthbert and vision by Melanie Leupolz set it all up as Reiten was in the right place at the right time to score the club’s first-ever goal against the Spanish powerhouse.

Going into an opponents stadium, specifically Barca’s is not the most simple of tasks. The west Londoners came in with a plan, and when that plan faltered, the players on the pitch did not. In the history books, this will go down as a defeat on aggregate, but to Hayes and her team, it was a proud moment that has the potential to prepare them for future Champions League runs.