Women's Champions League final: Top moments from Chelsea vs. Barcelona
It's championship season in European soccer.
And for the UEFA Women's Champions League, a first-time winner was crowned Sunday when Chelsea FC Women and FC Barcelona Femení squared off at Gamla Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden.
For Barcelona, a first-half offensive blitz left Chelsea shellshocked, as a 4-0 lead before the break was more than enough for the Spanish team to run away with the honors.
The second half was played much tighter, but Chelsea still could not find a consolation goal in Barcelona's historic accomplishment.
Here are the biggest moments from the final between Chelsea and Barcelona:
Dream start for Barca
The game clock hadn't even hit the one-minute mark by the time Barcelona had an early lead.
Lieke Martens curled a shot that hammered off the crossbar, and then the scramble was on. The ricochet stayed in the penalty area, and the Blues made a mess of trying to clear the ball.
Eventually, the ball bounced off Chelsea midfielder Melanie Leupolz — but not in the direction she would have favored. Instead, the ball looped up and over Ann-Katrin Berger for an early own goal to put Barcelona up 1-0.
From bad to worse for the Blues
Barcelona came out firing early, taking a 2-0 lead by the 14th minute.
Jennifer Hermoso was fouled in the box in the 13th minute, allowing captain Alexia Putellas to step up and slot it home after VAR confirmed the penalty.
Seeing triple
Barca continued to carve apart Chelsea's defense, scoring its third goal in 20 minutes.
This time it was Aitana Bonmati finding the back of the net after Alexia found her teammate streaking into the danger area with a perfect first-time pass. Bonmati finished with ease to put the screws to Chelsea in the early going.
Four score
There was no letting up in Barcelona's first-half onslaught.
Martens raced around the Chelsea defense to set up yet another goal for the Spanish champions, giving them a 4-0 lead more than 10 minutes before the half-time whistle.
Sensing a trend here?
That lead proved to be more than enough for Barcelona, which kept a clean sheet to claim the club's first Women's Champions League title.
Celebration time
Though the result was a foregone conclusion for quite some time, that didn't stop Barcelona's well-earned exultations from commencing as soon as the referee's whistle blew.
And no championship is complete without the iconic trophy lift, which fell to Vicky Losada to start the honors.
