STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, April 2 – Barcelona blasted their way into the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League with a 6-0 thrashing of Real Madrid to give them a whopping 12-2 aggregate victory over their Spanish rivals on Thursday, setting them up for a last-four clash with German side Bayern Munich.
They will be joined in the semis by OL Lyonnes (formerly Olympique Lyonnais), who beat Bayern’s compatriots VfL Wolfsburg 4-1 on aggregate after extra time to put them through to a meeting with reigning champions Arsenal.
Already leading 6-2 after last week’s first leg, Barca showed no mercy in the second against Madrid, Alexia Putellas opening the scoring in the eighth minute and Caroline Graham Hansen adding a second seven minutes later to snuff out any hopes Madrid might have had of making a comeback.
Irene Paredes and Ewa Pajor added a goal each before the break, and 10 minutes into the second half Graham Hansen nabbed her second to pile on the misery for Madrid, with Esmee Brugts completing the rout in the 74th minute.
In the last of the four quarter-finals, Lyon trailed 1-0 from the first leg but scored in the 16th minute through a deflected Lily Yohannes strike to even the aggregate score at 1-1. Despite a slew of chances they could not find a winning goal, and the game went to extra time.
Lyon then had a goal ruled out for offside before Melchie Dumornay fired home from close range to put the eight-time champions into the lead for the first time in the tie, and Damaris Egurrola added a second with a powerful header from a corner five minutes later.
With Wolfsburg tiring, Tabitha Chawinga put the icing on the cake for Lyon, slicing through the defence and rounding the keeper before firing home in the 119th minute to set up another meeting with Arsenal, who defeated them at last year’s semi-final stage.
The inaugural final of the women’s Europa Cup will be an all-Swedish affair after BK Hacken beat German side Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 on aggregate to set up a final over two legs against Stockholm club Hammarby, who beat Czech side Slavia Prague 2-0 on the night and 5-2 overall. REUTERS