Barcelona femeni beat Real Madrid 5-2 in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Champions League in front of a record crowd at Camp Nou.
91,533 people were at hand- the biggest crowd in women’s football history- to watch the Spanish rivals clash for a place in the semifinal.
Carrying a 3-1 lead into the second leg of the quarterfinal, Barcelona scored in just the 8th minute to take a commanding 4-1 lead on the aggregate when Mapi León’s cross was misjudged by Misa Rodríguez and the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Madrid soon found their footing in the game and Olga Carmona’s penalty in the 16th minute charged their attempts at a comeback. Claudia Zornoza scored a wonderful goal from 40 yards out in the 48th minute by catching Sandra Paños off her line to it 2-1 for Madrid as an unlikely comeback looked to be on.
But the reigning European champions showed why they are on a 41 game winning streak by firing back through Aitana Bonmati, Claudia Pina, and the reigning Ballon d’Or holder Alexia Putellas in quick succession to take a commanding lead in the tie.
Norway’s Graham Hansen added a fifth to complete the scoreline giving Barcelona femeni a comfortable 8-3 aggregate win.
Jonatan Giraldez’s side have been a juggernaut this season having already wrapped up the league title in Spain this season after winning a treble last year. They have now won all 37 matches they have played in all competitions this term and will hope to reaffirm their dominance in the women’s game by retaining the Champions League.
The previous record crowd for a women’s game was the 1999 world Cup final between the United States and China where 90,185 people attended the game.
It was also the biggest Barcelona crowd for any game played at Camp Nou this season and the highest since December 2019, when 93,426 saw the men’s team held to a goalless draw by Madrid.
