In Barcelona they breathe relieved. The blaugrana, who on Wednesday secured their place in the next round of the Champions League after beating Roma 5-1, already know who their rival will be in the semifinals: they will face Chelsea next April —the dates are still to confirm- Thus, Jonatan Giráldez's men will avoid Olympique de Lyon, their worst European nightmare, thanks to the fact that last night the English managed to get off the French in the penalty shootout.
Barça will play their fifth consecutive semifinal, something that only Lyon had achieved so far. Precisely the galas, which the blaugranas have not managed to win on any occasion, were in charge of snatching the title from them on two of the three occasions in which the Catalan team reached the final.
But not all have been shadows in Barça's European journey. In the 2020-2021 season they reached the Champions League final for the second time in their history and on that occasion, with Chelsea as their rival, they lifted their first title. For this reason, and without minimizing the duel that the blaugranas will have to play against the English, Jonatan Giráldez's men are relieved to avoid the 'coconut'.
Now Barça will have to work hard to overcome the London team, which last night did not hesitate to defeat the almighty Olympique de Lyon. In their time in the European competition, the English will play their fourth semifinals, where they will seek a pass to their second final. The first was precisely lost against the Catalans by 0-4 in Gothenburg (Sweden).
Despite the doubts that Giráldez's men could have generated in the first leg of the quarterfinals at the Olympic Games in Rome, where they could only score one goal, in the second leg at the Camp Nou they showed a very different image before the 54,667 fans who attended to the stadium. The Catalan team offered an authentic soccer recital and left its mark of quality in a competition that marks its level.
The other two qualified for the semifinals are Arsenal and Wolfsburg. The 'gunners' eliminated Bayern Munich, while the Germans brought down PSG. A most attractive semifinal that will be played next April, where four of the great teams in Europe will fight for a ticket to the final on June 3 to be held at the PSV Stadium. The show is served.
