It wasn’t supposed to end like this.
As Emma Hayes made her slow procession across the Stamford Bridge lawn, cutting a lonely figure in the pouring rain, it was hard not to feel that the screenwriters had somehow got it wrong. It wasn’t that long ago that Chelsea were tipped to complete the quadruple; now it’s only the Women’s Super League (WSL) title up for grabs for the Blues.
It is not the fairytale ending that so many had hoped the football gods would provide for a figure who has become an undisputed icon of women’s football.
Hayes had said before Saturday’s match that this, the chance to make history in the club’s spiritual home, was everything she had ever wanted. But as she accepted the applause of Stamford Bridge’s support for the final time as Chelsea manager after yet another Champions League semi-final defeat to Barcelona, it was hard not to feel a sense of injustice about the fact that her glorious tenure would not. be crowned with a European triumph.
Over the past dozen years, this team has been built on the legs of great players, from Ji So-Yun to Fran Kirby to Lauren James, but it’s Hayes’ heart and mind that have gotten them this far. It was Hayes who, in the early years of her Chelsea career, had to clear the water from the pitch at Wheatsheaf Park in Staines so that her team’s WSL match with Liverpool could go ahead.
No such efforts were needed from the Chelsea boss today as the pitch was immaculately prepared for the occasion by the club’s groundsstaff. But all this – the noise and color of the 40,000-strong crowd – came from her drive and ambition, from her complete unwillingness to accept anything less than the best for her side.
READ MORE: Emma Hayes says Chelsea were ‘robbed’ by ‘worst decision in Champions League history’ against Barcelona
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With that in mind, perhaps the most heartbreaking thing about Saturday’s 2-0 defeat is that Chelsea came so close to the promised land. Last weekend’s 1-0 win at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys had put the Blues on the brink of sporting immortality.
They were 90 minutes away from Bilbao and the chance to exorcise some Champions League ghosts before Hayes left west London for the shores of the United States, where in just a few months she will become manager of the women’s national team.
But the fact that Erin Cuthbert’s stunning goal had powered Chelsea to victory in Catalonia only reinforced the belief that the European champions would have an even greater hunger for success in the second leg, with Hayes herself insisting her team were ‘perfect ‘ should be. ” to dethrone the “best team in the world”.
Certainly, on Saturday afternoon there could be no doubt about Barcelona’s status as a benchmark for football excellence. Jonatan Giraldez’s side started strongly and outscored the hosts on almost every conceivable point.
As the rain poured down in SW6, Chelsea had to toil, chase and attack. They were forced to scrap and suffer, and when defender Jess Carter emphatically launched an early strike into the stands, the home fans greeted it with the same passion they would normally reserve for a goal.
Even they knew it would never be pretty; that wasn’t necessary. But when Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati’s deflected effort found the Chelsea net after 25 minutes, the scale of the Blues’ challenge really began to sink in.
Barcelona had the most ball possession and looked threatening with every attack. But remarkably it was the hosts who had the better chances, with Melanie Leupolz crashing an effort against the crossbar from six yards out and Catarina Macario forcing a fine fingertip save from Catalina Coll.
And when the players took to the pitch for the second half, it felt like it was only a matter of time before the Barcelona net bulged. When Sjoeke Nusken’s goal hit the post, forcing Hayes to bury her head in her hands, it looked like a Chelsea goal was inevitable.
That was inevitable until centre-back Kadeisha Buchanan was controversially shown a second yellow card for an alleged foul on Barcelona captain Patri, reducing the home side to ten players and handing all the momentum to Giraldez’s side. “I thought it was the worst decision in the history of the UEFA Women’s Champions League,” Hayes told reporters after the match. “I’m devastated for (the players). We were robbed.”
It was the latest in a long series of post-match rants from the Chelsea boss, who has provided the press with plenty of headlines in recent months, sometimes landing herself in hot water with her fearless candor.
But while she could be accused of exaggeration in this case, it is difficult to refute her claims that Buchanan’s dismissal has drastically changed the face of the game. And Chelsea’s misery was compounded when they were on the receiving end of what Hayes called ‘an equally soft decision’, with the referee pointing to the spot after Bonmati had been felled inside the penalty area.
From the moment the ice-cold Fridolina Rolfo scored her penalty, it was clear that this story would only have one ending. The cavalry was sent in and captain Millie Bright came off the bench to make her first appearance in more than five months, but it was too little too late for the Blues, who may have begun to fear it is Hayes’ last dance. turns into an exhausting, dizzying waltz.
But with just four games of the WSL season left to play, these players must somehow muster the strength to end the campaign with a bang, rather than let their manager’s swan song become a forgettable footnote in the most memorable Chelsea chapters.
There will be no grandstand finish for Hayes, and the manner in which her final European departure will take place will remain a mystery for some time to come. But even as the Chelsea boss trudged through the tunnel on Saturday evening, you could still hear the crowd chanting her name – proof that, when the pain of this defeat has faded, her legacy will continue to echo within these walls for years to come. .
All matches of this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League will be broadcast live on DAZN and you can register for free here. Lyon’s second leg against PSG can also be watched for free here.