Champions League: Barcelona dominates, makes semifinals with Bayern, Arsenal and OL Lyonnes
There are decisive wins. There are emphatic wins. And then there’s what Barcelona did to Real Madrid across two legs of the Champions League quarterfinals, burying a total of 12 goals, six in each meeting, to Madrid’s 2 on March 25 and Thursday.
Barcelona’s 6-0 win Thursday also marked the women’s team’s inauguration of the renovated Camp Nou, which was filled with 60,067 supporters. Even more, star midfielder Alexia Putellas opened the scoring. Both of Madrid’s Champions League responses came in the first match from 21-year-old Colombian forward Linda Caicedo.
Add to Thursday’s win the 3-0 league victory that Barcelona enjoyed over their Spanish rivals last weekend, and the appeal of El Clasico begins to take on a different, less entertaining meaning for both sides. (Unless you just really, really like watching Barcelona score goals. ) And yet it’s inaccurate to say that Barcelona lazed their way through these quarterfinals.
Every touch of the ball, every run made and tenacious effort on goal was urgent and precise for the entirety of both legs. For the players who were part of last year’s Barcelona side that conceded a 74th-minute goal to Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius that ultimately lost them the 2025 Champions League final, there has likely also been a fair bit of vindication behind those touches. Almost as if the club knows their dominance in the league, or even against Real Madrid in the quarterfinals, means nothing if they don’t take home a Champions League trophy at the end of it.
The victory was an outlier in an otherwise competitive set of matches. Here’s where things stand heading into the Champions League semifinals. What are the semifinal match-ups + any history between the teams?
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