Barça continues adding its games by victories, also in the Champions League. After thrashing Benfica (9-0) on matchday one, they beat Rosengård (1-4) to stay top of the group before hosting Bayern, with whom they will play for first place, at the Camp Nou next month. Two doubles from Aitana Bomatí and Mariona Caldentey were enough for Jonatan Giráldez’s to finish off the Swedish champion, although they could have been more. The Catalan team finished the game with devastating statistics: 32 shots to 3 from the rival. Although the victory also cost him the injury of Caroline Graham Hansen. The Norwegian retired in tears in the first half with hamstring problems.
Without excessive cold, but under heavy rain, Barça returned to Sweden, the country in which they lifted their first Champions League in 2021. On that occasion in Göteborg there was not a soul due to the covid restrictions, but yesterday in Malmö there was no there was a pin. The visit of the Barça team, added to the visit of a compatriot like Fridolina Rolfö, were more than enough arguments to fill the Malmö Idrottsplats, many of them wearing Barcelona shirts and scarves.
Sweden will always be a special country for Barça. Not only because she was proclaimed European champion there for the first time, it would also be against Rosengård against whom she would seal her first pass to the semifinals of the Champions League back in 2017, when a Lieke Martens was a member of the Swedish team who would sign for Barcelona that summer .
Rosengård came out brave, chaining some approaches to the Barça goal, but none of real danger for a Sandra Paños who returned to the starting eleven after several weeks injured. But Barça would soon take control of the match. The forward formed by Geyse, Oshoala and Graham Hansen accumulated chances, helped by the continuous climbs of an immense Fridolina Rolfö.
The Barça engine room, commanded by Aitana Bonmatí together with Walsh and Mariona, also worked perfectly. The Balearic soccer player saw how a goal was annulled a quarter of an hour into the game due to a previous foul by Geyse and the Brazilian striker would suffer the same fate in the next play, in this case for offside.
For Barça to open the scoring was only a matter of time, he was not lacking in insistence. He suffocated Rosengård with his high pressure and went on the attack until, after half an hour of play, the prize would arrive. Rolfö, who swelled to hang balls from the left of the Barça attack, would end up connecting with Aitana Bonmatí, who plugged the ball into the back of the net.
The brave Rosengård reacted to the goal, forcing Paños to intervene in the clearest chance for the Swedish team. But the one from Sant Pere de Ribes would appear again to widen the gap with a left-footed shot close to the post after a great associative move by the team. Third goal in the Champions League for an Aitana whose presence on the pitch completely changes the image of the team.
In added time, Mariona tried to surprise Micah with a cannon shot from 30 meters, but the Swedish team’s goalkeeper managed to save the shot. The surprise would be for the Catalans when Holdt gave wings to Rosengård sending a dry kick to the back of the net from the edge of the area and put the 1-2 before the break. Shortly before, Giráldez received the worst news by having to change an injured Caroline Graham Hansen, who left the pitch in tears due to discomfort in the hamstring of her right thigh. This Friday more tests will be done in Barcelona to find out the extent of the injury.
Going through changing rooms did not change the dynamics of the game. Crnogorcevic, who had come on to replace the Norwegian, started the second half with a clear chance on the local goal that was unsuccessful because the ball bounced just before finishing off. Shortly after, Micah sent a header from Oshoala to corner, once again displaying great security under the sticks. But the best was yet to come. After one hour of play, Mariona Caldentey signed what is surely one of the best goals of the day, surprising the Australian goalkeeper with a shot from practically the midfield dividing line. The Majorcan soccer player would not have enough, who already scored a double in added time when she caught the rejection of a Claudia Pina free kick to send the ball to the back of the net with the 1 to 4 that would end up being definitive.
