Narrow Defeat: Barcelona's Heartbreaking 2-1 Loss

The broadcast commentary continues from Ryu Ha-neul's fantastic connecting play with Albaria's finishing touch! 71 minutes into the second half! Barcelona has scored a goal to close the gap!

"Wow... What an intelligent play. It was as if he knew where all his teammates were without even looking. Arnal's pass and Albaria's finish were beautiful too."

"Now the score is 2:1. If that's the case, Chelsea will have no choice but to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠make changes."

"That's right. Chelsea came into the second half and showed completely defensive football. But if they sit back like that, there's almost no team that can stop Barcelona's attack. There's a risk of conceding an equalizer, but at times like this, Chelsea should counterattack! If it's a draw, it's a draw after conceding two goals at home, so the path to the quarterfinals will be even more treacherous."

Football is a sport where the difference between home and away is quite significant, and to resolve this imbalance, tournaments like the Champions League, which are played in a home-and-away format, apply the away goals rule. The away goals rule is quite simple: if both teams are tied on points and goal difference after the first and second legs, the team that scored more goals away advances.

And currently, the score between Chelsea and Barcelona is 2:1.

From Chelsea's perspective, it doesn't matter if this match ends as is and they win, or if they win the next match, but if Barcelona scores one more goal and forces a draw, the situation will become complicated.

If that happens, to advance to extra time, Chelsea would have to concede two points at Barcelona's home and draw, and to advance to the quarterfinals, they would have to concede three points and draw. That's how it is.

Now, about 35 minutes remain.

Given Barcelona's momentum, scoring one more goal seems like a matter of time, so the commentator said Chelsea should come out and attack. As the saying goes, attack is the best defense, so judging that it's more likely to avoid conceding a goal by going out and pressing rather than crouching quietly for 35 minutes.

But contrary to the commentator's advice, Chelsea continued to play defensively, turtling up.

"That's because that's the way Chelsea won the EPL last year."

[Yelena's shot! It flies high! Chelsea gets a corner kick!]

[Ryu Ha-neul's pass to Arnal! Arnal! Shot! Saved! Kone's super save! This is saved!]

[Ryu Ha-neul shoots! Ah! The goalkeeper easily catches it!]

[Ryu Ha-neul to Albaria! Albaria! Albaria! Albaria! Ah! This ball hits the goalpost! Fabiola clears it!]

[Ryu Ha-neul gives it back! Lucia hits! But Kone saves again!]

The whistle blows! Foul awarded to Barcelona!

Chelsea's players have become rough? Outside the box, and especially to Ryu Ha-neul, they are committing fouls without mercy. ... Lucia's free kick, saved by Kone.

"Ah! Ryu Ha-neul rolls on the ground again! Is this not a yellow card? Asha player had a yellow card, so it could have been a red card situation, but they didn't give it. ... Lucia's shot! This time it gets away!"

Thanks to Chelsea's players burning cards, the 2:1 score difference continued to hold.

So while Barcelona pressed hard and shook the net, time continued to flow,

[75th minute, Arnal is substituted for Routina.]

"They're trying to lengthen the attacking route. Routina, at 194 cm, can receive the crosses that fullbacks lift, right? I thought it might have been better to use Routina, who has heading ability, a bit earlier, but it's not too late now."

Coach Diana threw her last ace by bringing in Routina, the tall striker.

But unlike ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the winning move she threw right at the start of the second half, this winning move wasn't so fatal.

[Narcis's cross! Davina clears it! ... Anila's cross! Fabiola clears it! ... Cross! ... Cleared!]

"Ah... It seems like they're relying too much on crosses right now. Albaria and Ryu Ha-neul are too powerless to fight with Routina."

With Routina entering, the organic play that flowed from Ryu Ha-neul through Albaria and Arnal in midfield became a target-type striker and turned into a monotonous cross-only attack. Routina's skill wasn't enough to head through the defenders lining up as Davina-Fabiola-Asha for Chelsea.

[... Routina's header! But it flies over the goal line and it's out! Now only 30 seconds remain!]

"Ah, in the end Routina got the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠header, but it was too late. The match probably ends after the kickoff."

[Kone, to Fabiola, Fabiola to Anne, Anne! Long ball! And the whistle blows! Match ends! Chelsea advances to the quarterfinals with a 2:1 victory at home!]

Beeep! Beeep! Beeep!

So Diana's final winning move backfired, and the match between Chelsea and Barcelona ended 2:1.

Ha... The atmosphere was good...

Sorry. I knew this wasn't the end, but defeat is still disappointing. I gave a yellow card to three key defenders of the opponent, and our connecting play was getting more refined little by little, so if we just pressed a bit more, it seemed like it would open up, but after Routina was substituted, the attack route was set to crosses, and there was nothing I could do.

I don't want to blame Routina either.

Originally, it was too harsh to put Routina in to head against Chelsea's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠defenders. If Routina had been able to head against Chelsea's defenders, she wouldn't have been a candidate at Barcelona.

Honestly, I didn't expect a goal, but I thought she could at least knock it down to the ground, but Chelsea's defenders were like a wall for Routina to head against.

"Wow, Kone was insane today. How did she save all that? It wasn't that good to begin with, was it?"

And another wall, Kone blocking us was also a big problem. If Kone had missed once, it would have been 2:2, and even 3:2 reverse possible, but the problem was that the opponent goalkeeper was in perfect condition today.

Why was her condition so good today? I was wondering for a moment, and someone immediately answered my question.

"Her period this week."

The secret to that condition was simply her period. I knew with my head that women in this world have better condition during their period, but actually experiencing it directly was beyond belief.

Damn, isn't it that you can't do anything during your period?

I wanted to ask the other players if there were any women on our team who were menstruating, but asking something like that wouldn't be polite, so I swallowed the words.

"Well, there are still home matches left. Honestly, a one-point difference is doable, right?"

"That's true. Let's squeeze them 3:0 at home."

Fortunately, looking at the other players' conditions, it seemed there were no frustrated players. This must be the veterans' way? There are still the second leg, the season is long, so it's better to burn with fighting spirit than to get frustrated.

And that atmosphere continued in Spain after leaving London.

Before the second leg against Chelsea, we had accumulated 10 points in the league, and although we drew with Atletico Madrid, we continued our momentum.

Additionally, it was good news that starter defender Amira had returned from injury and was participating in team training.

However, since the one who injured her was from our country, her eyes looking at me weren't normal.

"Ha-neul, did you see Amira looking at you? Her eyes were weird."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Something unpleasant. You'd better be careful."

Even Camila, who was kind, said to be careful with Amira. So it wasn't my imagination.

"No, it was my imagination."

"Really...? Hmm..."

But since she was definitely a skilled player, I made Camila promise not to say that to others.

After all, if she rests fully during the A match period and then starts as a starter for the upcoming Chelsea match, it would clearly help not only in the league title race but also in enduring the tight schedule starting from the Champions League quarterfinals.

But to do that, we had to first advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.

And the match that would decide the quarterfinals against Chelsea was approaching quickly.

"Then tomorrow is the starting lineup. Goalkeeper: Maximilena, defenders: Anila, Tiana, Tena, Narcis. Defensive midfielder: Lucia, midfielders: Yolena and Lorenza. Left wing forward: Albaria, right wing forward: Eloya. Central striker: Ryu."

Huu, I was worried because Arnal's form was improving a bit, but still, I'm the starter.

So when Diana chose me as the starting striker for the second leg of the round of 16, the match to decide our path to the Champions League quarterfinals began.