The UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinal first legs saw some pretty interesting story lines.
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A USWNT trio experienced the wrong end of a blowout loss for the first time in who knows how long when Man City visited Barcelona, while Chelsea needed goalkeeper heroics and help from an ex-Wolfsburg player to take an advantage over the German visitors.
Bayern stayed perfect on the season in a third match of the day, while a match-up of the top two teams in France swung on a second-half penalty.
Barcelona 3-0 Manchester City
Three USWNT players came out on the losing end of their first leg in Barcelona and don’t have any away goals to bring back as consolation.
Sam Mewis and Abby Dahlkemper went 90 minutes each, both playing rather well considering the score line, while Rose Lavelle continued her run as a super sub in coming into the match in the 70th minute.
The score was already 2-0 at that point, as Mariona Caldentey set up an Asisat Oshoala goal before converting a penalty. Jennifer Hermoso scored in the 86th minute to make City’s second-leg task all the more improbable at home.
This, my friends, is a rip.
💥 BOOM! @AsisatOshoala gives @FCBfemeni a 1-0 lead over Manchester City in the @UWCL quarterfinals! pic.twitter.com/UNQ6wdGEDs
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 24, 2021
Bayern Munich 3-0 Rosengard
Bayern Munich has played 24 matches in all competitions this year. They’ve won 24 of them. You read that right.
The Swedish visitors rarely lose, let alone by three goals, but Linda Dallman, Klara Buhl, and Lineth Beerensteyn had all the goals on the board by the 65th minute as Bayern only allowed a single shot on target.
Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Lyon
The all-French quarterfinal saw an American on both sides, but PSG did not use Alana Cook while Lyon’s Catarina Macario was a 76th-minute sub for Lyon.
The visitors took their away goal and lead back across France via a Wendie Renard penalty with four minutes left in the 90.
Chelsea 2-1 Wolfsburg
All the goals came in a frenetic quarter-hour just after halftime, as Sam Kerr scored in the 55th minute and set up Pernille Herder for a 66th-minute goal to put Chelsea up 2-0.
Dominique Janssen converted a penalty in the 70th to set the stage for a grandstand finish, but the away goal was all Wolfsburg gathered on a night it outshot the Blues 22-6 and forced seven saves, all inside the box, on Ann Katrin Berger.
What a finish @SamKerr1! 🌟#CFCW #UWCL pic.twitter.com/TXCpjP7B6o
— (C)helsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) March 24, 2021
